


Sinful Pleasures, Consuming Darkness

by Skywolf42



Series: Darkverse [1]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: (ok probably a lot insane but he hides it well), AND DOES BAD BAD THINGS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, DON'T BLAME ME LOL (BLAME KILI-MUSE), Dark!Kili, Dark!Thorin, I apologise if that happens as I never intend for it to happen, I'd rather not have to answer to enraged Thorin-lovers, Multi, OC may be Mary sueish at times, OC's maid is often Mary-Sueish, Please don't get attached to Thorin, THORIN IS A PSYCHO WITH TOO MUCH POWER, Thorin is a manipulative cunning sadistic slightly-insane, Underage death at one point IM SORRY KILI-MUSE MADE ME DO IT I'M SORRY ;(, adorable!Ori, conflicted!Fili, don't blame me blame my muse it's all his fault, or I will send Thorin after you, read and comment, sneaky conniving bastard, tutor!Balin, when they start spamming me, with angry questions as to why he's such a bastard (gross understatement), with the instructions to 'have fun' and 'take no prisoners....'
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-03-19 21:05:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 18
Words: 77,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3624264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skywolf42/pseuds/Skywolf42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young woman from our world - at first excited to be transported to Middle Earth - instead finds herself in a sinister, darker parallel of the world in which she once dreamed of living, yet now yearns to leave. Taken captive and imprisoned in Erebor to serve the twisted needs of the deadly dwarf King, she must learn to adapt if she is to survive....<br/>The dragon never attacked Erebor and half of Arda is at war, or has already been conquered by Erebor's King, Thorin II.<br/>Captured after a battle between the Erebor dwarves and the human tribes of the Withered Heath, Sky is taken to be the royal consort to Thorin and his nephews, Crown Prince Fili and his younger brother, Prince Kili.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dark!Thorin Dark!Fili Dark!Kili AU (Though Still Middle Earth Of A Kind) Very Mature; Non-con; Contains Elements Of BDSM But Is Not Truly
> 
> This story has been hovering around in my head for a while, and after some fun brainstorming with CelticAngel86, I’ve decided I can wait no longer to write more complete chapters, so I’m posting what I already have with the intention of following up with updates as soon as possible. I won’t set myself deadlines of once a week or all that nonsense, because we’ve all experienced as readers that that seems to jinx the author into not updating for months if not a year or even two. ;) Warning: I have neither the patience, the inspiration nor the skills to write what I deem to be actual stories with good plots and character growth behind them. That’s one of the reasons why I haven’t bothered writing this prologue out properly. My impatience will most likely be my downfall one day lol.  
> WARNING! PLEASE READ CAREFULLY BEFORE PROCEEDING!  
> This story contains POTENTIAL TRIGGERS for any person who has been traumatised through some form of sexual harassment and/or assault. I am fully aware that this is NOT acceptable behaviour in real life and I myself most likely would not enjoy being put in this situation and I would never wish it on anyone else, nor would I condone these kinds of actions toward anyone else in real life.  
> This is meant to be a work of FICTION ONLY to be read as such. If you do not like reading such material, exit this page and go find something more to your tastes. There are plenty of fantastic works written by authors FAR more talented than I which are well written and highly enjoyable to read, without any of the content you will find in this story.  
> If any person who has experienced some form of sexual harassment and/or assault continues with reading this and experiences triggering because of it, I humbly apologise, but you were warned.  
> There will be a TRIGGER WARNING like so at the top of every chapter that contains anything which has the potential to trigger someone with real life history in this content. (Again I sincerely apologise for any bad memories I inadvertently raise in people who read my story despite my warning not to).  
> For those who are part of a BDSM community, or in a relationship/s of that kind, I do understand that this story is NOT a factual representation of BDSM. Any kinks used in this story are understood to be classified as abusive for the most part and therefore not technically BDSM, despite using some of the same activities. It is understood that BDSM – proper BDSM – is always consensual and when it is not consensual it is not BDSM, simply sexual abuse.  
> Now we have all the formalities out of the way – I think; I may have missed some; I’m sure other members will be messaging me soon if I have so I’ll know soon enough – on with the show!!  
> I hope you enjoy it for what I meant it to be. A study in masochistic/sadistic bondage/discipline relationships, Stockholm, Uncle Tom and Lima Syndromes, and the realities of war of all eras, with a little slightly unorthodox attempt at romance and a bushel of lemons on the side.

This is a story wherein the dwarves are led by Thorin (Crowned King) in his attempt to conquer all the lands East and North of Erebor (which was never attacked by Smaug; the Events of The Hobbit Never Happened; Thror, Thrain, Frerin and Dis are all dead). Always at his side are his nephews. Fili, the eldest and next in line to the throne, is also a General in Thorin’s army. Kili commands the Archers and takes part in the training of new recruits in both archery and swordsmanship (though mainly archery as that is their main weapon). He is also Captain of Thorin’s Elite Guard, a small, hand-picked group of the King’s best warriors (barring Fili because he is the Royal Heir).  
Thorin conducted many raids and full-scale wars with neighbouring kingdoms and provinces, cutting down almost all who stood in his path. After one rare, though particularly disappointing defeat in the East, Thorin withdrew his troops and focused all of his forces on the small but so far elusive and seemingly indestructible Tribes of the Withered Heath, who lived on land which sat atop a very large deposit of mithril.  
Unbeknownst to the Dwarven King, a young woman from another universe had stepped through a worm hole and found herself in what at first seemed to be the world of her favourite book and subsequent film series…. Though drastically changed history-wise. She had been taken in by the Tribes of the Withered Heath and in return worked among them to earn her keep. When she showed an interest in swordsmanship and archery (she had only ever done unarmed martial arts or kobudo with weapons and fighting styles foreign to her companions), they gladly taught her, hoping she could assist the snipers in the defence of their homeland when Thorin next attacked, which they were certain he would.

The day of the attack came, and the Tribes took their positions. Disaster struck in the form of miscommunication; Thorin’s sudden decision to attack with his entire army hadn’t been relayed to them by their spy, who had unfortunately been discovered and slain. Though they had the advantage of the high ground, the dwarves swamped them through sheer force of numbers and a new military tactic (A/N: known to us as the Roman Tortoise) which protected many of the main forces from the snipers. The Tribes were routed in four days, though when it began to look particularly grim the leader had ordered a complete evacuation of all elderly, women and children, sending two hundred soldiers to escort them out and far away from the battle.  
Sky had been ordered to go with them, but she doubled back to help in any way she could…. And also because she really wanted to catch a glimpse of Thorin….  
And see him she did. Right up close and personal. Far too close and personal…. Not that she thought one would ever be able to describe him that way, but then, this was a different Thorin to that most courageous and noble dwarf….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please give the first few chapters a chance. They're not all that good (in my opinion), but my chapters have been getting better from around Chapter 4 on.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here is the beginning of the actual story. Or what I’d like to think of as an actual story lol. Enjoy.
> 
>  

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

Sky had been helping a few injured snipers through a secret escape route when a dwarf came around the corner, long golden hair braided back at the front, the mithril beads tipping his moustache braids glinting in the light of the setting sun filtering down to where they stood in a crevasse barely the width of three men.

She did a double take as she recognized Fili. What was he doing here? She had a hard enough time wrapping her head around the idea of Thorin being an evil warlord, let alone his noble, kind and compassionate heir. But this had clearly been a different world from the beginning, and she could no longer trust her old knowledge. Until she discovered otherwise, she would have to treat him as a threat.  
She was out of arrows and had lost her bow during the disorganised retreat, so despite only having trained with it for a few months, she drew her sword and signed to the others behind her to keep going no matter what, before turning back to her opponent.

Sky watched him from under the hood of her cloak, analysing his every move, searching for a weakness, anything she could exploit. Fili stopped a short distance away from her, though she knew he could close that gap in a fraction of a second. He seemed hesitant and wary. He was probably trying to figure out what she was. Sky had been shrunk somehow when she arrived in Middle Earth. The people she lived amongst had commented that, had she been of sturdier build and attached a fake beard, she could be mistaken for a dwarf…. As it was she had often found herself being treated like a child, which had been highly frustrating.  
It didn’t matter now though. Now she was faced with a real dwarf bearing a sword who seemed to have made up his mind and stood in a relaxed ready stance.

Fili waited.

She narrowed her eyes; this wasn’t good. Against someone of his skill she wouldn’t last a second if she went on the offensive first. They assessed each other for close to four minutes, though it felt like hours to Sky. She knew the other reason he wasn’t attacking was to make her tenser and tenser with each passing moment of inaction so that when he finally did strike, her rigid muscles would react a lot slower, giving him yet another superfluous advantage. She took half a breath in as quietly as she could and let it out slowly, allowing all the tension to drain from her body. She needed to stall him as long as possible for her injured comrades to get away.

A slight shift in his stance was all the warning she had before Fili was upon her. The one thing on her side was the width of the passage they were in. Whilst her sword was designed for use in cramped spaces, Fili’s weapon was made for wide powerful cuts and stabs, utilising momentum he would gain best from a more open area. This meant his strikes had to come largely from above, with the occasional stab if he wished, and were weaker on the diagonal cuts. She tried to remember everything her teachers had said, combined with that of the martial arts she was already reasonably proficient in, though she knew it was only a matter of time before she fell to his superior skill and experience.  
Surprisingly enough she lasted a few minutes before her sword was sent spinning from her hand and she felt the cold sharp tip of a blade pressing against her throat. With his free hand Fili pulled the hood down, only to freeze as he was met – not with the pale, frightened face of a young boy – but with the slightly rounded, slightly tanned, defiant features of a woman, her hazel eyes glaring up at him in a silent challenge.

He hesitated only a moment before ordering her to turn around and kneel, which she did, albeit grudgingly. There was no point trying to run. Even in a confined space and dwarven broadsword he had moved with blinding speed; he would cut her down before she’d gone three paces. Fili pulled the thong from his jerkin and used it to bind her hands securely – and painfully – behind her.  
They were interrupted by sounds of movement in the passage the wounded archers had gone down, and sure enough, out stumbled a man Sky had seen once or twice but had never actually had a conversation with. Despite this, she was his comrade, and he let out an enraged yell at seeing her bound at the feet of her captor, charging Fili with his sword drawn and held awkwardly in his crudely bandaged hand.

“Don’t!!” she cried, then screamed as an arrow whizzed out of nowhere and struck him in the side of the head. His body fell with an ominous thump barely two strides away from them and she was left staring into his now sightless eyes, tears forming in her own no matter how hard she tried to hold them back.  
A whoop sounded out, and the next moment a familiar dwarf with black hair and stubble jumped down from a ledge above them.

“Did you see that, brother mine?” Kili crowed, giving the dead man’s arm a kick as he passed, “Right in the temple!”  
“Oh yes,” Sky snapped, “Because it takes such skill to shoot a wounded man from, what? Five metres away?”

Kili looked at her curiously, ignoring her comment, “Well, well, well. What have we here?” A gloved hand reached out to catch a lock of her hair but pulled away swiftly as she made to bite him. He clucked his tongue at her disapprovingly and grabbed her firmly under the chin, tightening his grip against her struggles until she winced in pain and stopped. He turned her head from side to side as though appraising livestock, stroking a thumb over her lips.  
“Now, now. I can think of much more productive uses for that pretty little mouth.”  
“Like being buried in your jugular?” she gritted.  
He laughed, “A little lower actually.”  
“Oh. You mean where what few bits of brain you have are stored?” she quipped. His eyes hardened and he all but threw her away from him, then began stalking back down the path. “Bastard son of a beardless whore,” she muttered, feeling certain that would get a rise out of him. She needed to get him back somehow for the death of her comrade and his degrading treatment of her. Kili froze, pivoting slowly to face her again and growled, “What did you say?”

“Kili,” Fili rumbled in a warning tone, shaking his head at Sky. She bared her teeth in a humourless grin at the younger dwarf, accentuating every syllable as she repeated the words louder.  
His sword sprung from its scabbard, and he would likely have slain her then and there had his brother not physically restrained him, murmuring urgently in his ear. A moment later he’d calmed down, but he nevertheless brandished his weapon in her face, snarling, “One more comment like that, _wench_ , and you won’t be so pretty by the time I’m done with you!!”  
“Go fuck yourself,” she snapped back, then groaned when her head whipped to the side and everything went blurry for a few minutes, the crevasse echoing with the crack as Fili backhanded her.  
“That’s quite enough! If you value your life I suggest you remain silent,” he said firmly, pulling her to her feet and shoving her roughly in front of him. Still dizzy, she stumbled, only to be caught by the forearm and frogmarched by the elder brother out of the gully and down the slope, Kili following closely behind.  
Sky, wincing at the tight grip, meekly asked, “Could you please loosen up a bit? I’m not going anywhere and you’re hurting me.” Kili mimicked her in a mocking falsetto, and her hands balled into fists as she fought hard to keep from kicking him.

“Good girl,” Fili murmured and his brother chuckled, “It’s not like she can do anything anyway.” Sky dug her feet into the shale, jerking the blond beside her to a stop with the suddenness of it and rounded on the archer.  
“You and your attitude can go jump off a cliff! And F.Y.I, it’s called a back kick, which _you_ are currently _well_ within the range of, _dwarf_!”  
“Both of you, SHUT UP AND WALK!” Fili bellowed, startling Sky and earning a sullen glare from Kili. They spent the next half hour in silence, passing the various battle grounds and finally emerging onto a plain where most of the dwarven army seemed to have regrouped. A tent had been set up in the middle of the field, and it was to this tent they were headed.  
Sky took a deep breath as Kili went in first, holding the flap open for Fili and herself as they entered. It was dim and stifling in the tent, and she found herself wanting fervently to lie down and take a nap. Inside was a table around which sat several dwarves: A kindly-looking dwarf with a stiff white beard she recognised from the movie as Balin, his brother Dwalin - a largely bald dwarf with tattoos, furs and knuckle dusters - and a squat red-bearded dwarf with squinty eyes, opulent clothing and an extraordinarily large bulbous nose whom she did not recognise. The other member of what was seemingly a war council was of course Thorin; tall, dark, handsome, and imposing.  
They all looked up as his nephews entered, dragging a very nervous Sky behind them.

“Kneel,” muttered Fili, pressing down on her shoulders. She obeyed but continued staring at the council, Thorin in particular. Kili grunted and made her bow her head, holding his hand there until she stopped resisting.  
Her heart skipped a beat at the sound of Thorin standing and walking leisurely over to them, biting back a whimper when his boots came into view less than a foot away from her.

“What is this?”

Sky shuddered as the rich, baritone voice washed over her and cursed herself mentally when she felt warmth and moisture begin to pool in her loins. _‘The fuck girl, pull yourself together!’_  
“She was helping some wounded barbarians get through some kind of hidden escape route. If our spy was correct however, they won’t have gotten far. Our troops at the exit will have dealt with them,” answered Fili, his voice cold and flat. Sky closed her eyes and silently apologised to the men and their families for failing them yet again.  
 _'You didn’t know they had inside information,’_ said a kind little voice in her head, _‘And what else could you have done even if you had known? It would have all played out in a similar fashion. You did your best and that’s all that matters.’_ She mentally shook her head, _‘It’s going to take me awhile to accept that regardless of how true it may or may not be.’_  
She was startled out of her thoughts by a large hand grasping her under the chin and raising her eyes to meet the electric blue gaze that had so captivated her when she saw it on screen.  
“I asked you a question. I expect you to answer it.”  
“ I-I-I wasn’t paying attention,” she stuttered after taking a moment to gather her thoroughly scrambled thoughts, “Please repeat?”  
He narrowed his eyes, but asked again. “What is your name?”  
“Sky,” she answered, the name coming to her tongue almost automatically now. He hummed, absentmindedly stroking his thumb over her lips the way Kili had done, then continuing on over the jaw and back again.  
“An unusual name for a woman,” he observed, lifting her head higher as her eyes had shyly dropped from his.  
"What is your _real_ name?" He asked, squeezing her jaw a little as she tried to turn her head away from him.  
"I don't know," she lied, improvisational skills kicking in as she thought up a story on the spot. "I was found on this very plain wandering around in a dreamlike state with no memory of who I was or where I came from. I spent so much time just sitting and staring up at the sky they nicknamed me after it and eventually it just stuck."  
He grunted, seemingly satisfied with this answer, and released her. She dropped her head gratefully; her neck muscles were sore from how far she had had to tip her head back to look up at him from her kneeling position on the ground. He was tall for a dwarf.

"What will we do with her, Sire?" Fili asked.  
"What we do with almost all low-born Women prisoners of war, my boy." Thorin smirked and gave Kili a wink. Kili chuckled, "I was really hoping you'd say that. The little wildcat needs to be taught her place."  
Sky turned to glare at him, "I'd like to see you _try_ , you sexist idiot!"  
Fili cuffed the back of her head reproachfully. _"Silence!"_

"Go to hell!" She snapped back, and when Kili took a step forward, probably with the intent of hitting her himself, one leg was up in a flash, slamming into his groin and sending him staggering backwards halfway through the tent flap before his eyes rolled back in his head and he dropped to the ground with an agonised groan.... And laid still.

 _"Kili?!"_ Fili cried, rushing to his brother's side. Sky's sudden unwanted feeling of remorse for Fili's sake was cut short as she was backhanded for the second time that day by Thorin, though this time she stayed where she fell, vision blurring, head spinning and stomach churning from the force of the blow. She absentmindedly noted that Fili had either held back or Thorin was much more powerfully built.... She was inclined to go with the latter.  
Behind her she could dimly hear - through the roaring in her ears - Fili telling the council that Kili was alright, just unconscious from the sheer amount of pain caused by her back kick into his testicles. The next moment she was pulled into a standing position by the hair and found herself face to face with an enraged Fili, the cold steel of a dagger pressing firmly against her throat.  
"If you _EVER_ harm my brother again, I will kill you slowly!!" His husky voice was soft, but terrifying in its intensity, and his eyes were like shards of ice. For the first time since her capture, Sky was truly afraid of him.  
"Sheath your blade, Fili," ordered Thorin. "Her transgressions will be punished, but at a later date and by different means."  
The prince reluctantly let her go and she sat quickly, still dizzy and nauseated from Thorin's blow. "And in the meantime?" Fili glared at Sky, fingers clenching and unclenching around the knife as though he was having to restrain himself from burying it in her neck.  
"In the meantime she will be given only a little food and water each day. At night she will be bound upright to a post, making it difficult for her to get a restful sleep. We shall see whether or not she breaks before we reach Erebor. Perhaps the journey will do most of our work for us."  
Fili sighed and slid the dagger back into his boot. "As you wish, Sire."

Thorin began barking orders in Khuzdul, each member of the council bobbing their heads in understanding and deference before leaving to carry out whatever duties had been given them. Fili pulled Kili into a sitting position and held him like a small child, stroking his face gently and talking softly to him in their language.  
"I'm sorry - " she started, but was silenced by the venom-filled glare that was shot her way.

"No you aren't," came the quiet reply, "But you will be."  
D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a review before you leave the page. It would be much appreciated. Flamers are welcome, but just remember I may or may not reply to you, depending on the message. Otherwise I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have or apologise for any offence I may have caused with what will become rather controversial material. Constructive Criticism will be gobbled with gusto. FEEEED MEEEE!! 
> 
> PS: I am aware I have skipped a lot of Sky's time with the Withered Heath tribe. I'm lazy and don't want to write that part yet. Maybe I'll write it as a separate story. Sue me lol. Seriously though, I try not to make a habit of this kind of thing I swear!! Please have some patience for the beginning chapters. They are a little slow and draggy and I apologise. I personally feel it gets better as they go along and I flesh out the behind the scenes world you don't get to see with my Beta and other Beta, but that's my personal opinion. If you have a different opinion, comments section is just below and I'd love to hear them. :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the length (or rather lack thereof) of this chapter. I decided I just wanted to post everything I already have and I really needed a dramatic ‘end of chapter’ bit directly after Fili’s ‘you aren’t sorry but you will be’ line. I’m a drama queen. I’m training to be an opera singer (legit), I can’t help it lol. Enjoy.

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

It took a week of travel under the conditions she was placed in before she cried for the first time, though she managed to hold it in until she was alone. She tugged, pulled and cursed at her bonds each night, to no avail. During the day she was forced to stagger amongst the mounts of the dwarven army, mouth parched and head throbbing from the insufficient amount of water she had been rationed daily, not to mention exhaustion from lack of sleep. During the second week Thorin visited and outlined his plans for her, plans which left her disgusted, terrified, and oddly aroused.

"You will obey our every order without question. If you do not comply fast enough or blatantly defy us, you will be punished. The severity of the punishment will depend on the severity of the transgression." By 'us' he of course meant himself and his nephews. He asked her if she had any previous experience and seemed pleased when she reluctantly answered that she had. Then Thorin made an offer he must have known would be difficult to refuse. He revealed to her that they had spared two of the men she had been trying to help escape before being captured. In return for her cooperation and complete surrender of herself they would be well-cared for and released in Esgaroth. If she refused, she would be forced to watch their execution.

"Your body for their lives," as Thorin so eloquently put it. "Even if you choose to let them die, your fate will be the same. It will simply be a lot less pleasant for you when we have to beat you into submission. Though I must admit, I'd enjoy breaking you." She kept her eyes averted to stop herself from glaring at him. She would be punished for doing such things once her service under the Durins began, that much had been made clear.

"I'm feeling generous today," he murmured in her ear, smirking as the combination of his voice and hot breath on her sensitive skin made her shiver slightly. "So I will make you another offer. Use your mouth on me to prove you have experience, and I will allow you more water and proper meals from now on. Oh, and I'll let you sleep lying down at night." She bit her lip, her mind roiling. They both knew she couldn't take much more of the treatment she'd been receiving the past two weeks. And it wasn't even proper sex. Though it would be proof of the control he now had over her, and the thought vexed her greatly.

"May I have a day to think about it?" she heard herself asking, appalled she was even considering it, but knowing she really had no other choice. He grunted a displeased "If you must," before stalking out of the tent she was being kept in.

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

The next evening when she was tied to her pole, she was surprised to find the dwarves who guarded her had switched the ropes - which normally threaded through several metal rings in the post - to ankle shackles. It dawned on her as to why when Thorin came striding through the tent entrance in expectation of her answer. She would need her hands free for what he wanted of her, but they couldn't risk her escaping as a result of not being secured in some way.  
Thorin cocked his head, crossed his arms over his powerful chest and asked, "Well?"

She sighed and sat up from where she'd taken the chance to lie down, kneeling before him with her head bowed, resigned to her fate.  
"I accept your offer," she said softly, then so quietly it was barely above a whisper she added, "Both of them."

"Good," he rumbled, a triumphant look flashing in his eyes as his hands went to his belt buckle.  
A few moments later his penis appeared in front of her. She numbly raised her head and took him in her mouth without hesitation, reaching one hand up to wrap around the base. Thorin hummed in pleasure, then placed his hand on the back of her head, applying pressure and growling, "You can do better than that! Open your mouth and take it as far as you can!" She gagged a little but obeyed, relaxing and widening her throat to take more of him in.  
"Hmmmm....That's much better. Good girl," he purred, thrusting his hips into her slightly, and she fought not to choke as his cock pressed itself further down her oesophagus. She pulled back to breathe for a minute, firmly stroking him whilst she gasped for air before impaling herself on him again, taking him as deeply as she could manage. He let out a small moan.  
"You _have_ done this before," he commented, head dropping back in ecstasy when she began swallowing around him, her so far free hand coming up to play with his ball sack. The hand on her head tangled itself in her strands; he lifted his other to join it and they held her firmly as he struggled to keep from thrusting wildly into her, instead encouraging her to take him even deeper than before. Once again she obeyed, and forced herself to stay wrapped around him when he came, shooting his seed straight down her throat, his moans louder now as she continued to swallow around him.

When he'd finished she didn't move away, waiting for further instruction.  
"Clean it," he ordered, releasing her head, then shuddered as she pulled back and swiped her tongue all around his cock, sucking the tip to get all the last traces of his seed.  
"Stand," he ordered, stuffing himself back into his pants. She did so then gasped softly as an arm snaked around her waist and pulled her against him, the other hand firmly grasping her chin and tilting it upward. She fought to keep from struggling, forcing herself to relax into him and let her lips mould to his.  
She'd always fantasised what kissing Thorin would be like, but never this darker Thorin and never under these circumstances. His lips were warm but his mouth hard on hers; he smelled faintly like wood smoke, wine and horse. 'Pony' she corrected herself. Horses were too big even for unusually large dwarves like Thorin to ride.  
After what seemed like an age and a few seconds all at once, he released her.

"You've done well," he murmured, stroking her cheek with the backs of his fingers, "Rest now. I'll have some food and water brought in to you shortly."  
He turned to go but stopped in his tracks as she asked, "The Heath men. Are they well?"  
There was a slight pause before he answered, "Well enough."

She stared at his retreating back until he was out of sight, slumping down with her back against the post and the bitter taste of him lingering in her mouth.

She felt like crying, but no tears came.

She felt like vomiting, but didn't.

Eventually she laid down and went to sleep, mind still whirling trying to figure a way out of her predicament.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review/comment/kudosit if you are so inclined and/or have the time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER

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Though Sky had expected to be forced into more sexual activities, she saw neither hide nor hair of Thorin for the rest of their journey. Not even his nephews came for her, though she thought she’d caught a glimpse of Fili’s unusual blonde hair a few times, shimmering in the sunlight near the front of the procession of ponies, carts and dwarves. She’d caught a few of the soldiers eyeing her up on occasion, and one of them who was on foot like her had even summoned up the gall to cop a quick feel of her ass as he pretended to stumble and fall into her. She’d barely kept herself from catching the offending hand and putting into a lock that, given enough pressure, would have snapped even his abnormally thick boned wrist clean through. Though their increasingly lecherous stares made her uneasy, aside from that one incident with ‘Clumsy’ – as she’d acerbically nicknamed him – they largely kept their hands to themselves.

It took another month to reach Erebor. The Lonely Mountain could be seen from hundreds of miles away. It towered majestically into the heavens, its tip passing the clouds and seeming to go up forever. The dwarves around her were cheery, most likely eagerly awaiting the grand victory feast Thorin was going to throw in honour of himself and his warriors, according to her guards who luckily seemed quite tolerant of the tirade of questions she would ask when just sitting around in the tent chained to a post all night got boring. ‘Tolerance’ didn’t guarantee answers however, and more times than not they just ignored her, but at least they didn’t take it into their heads to do anything else.  
Sky thought it odd how they’d all – aside from Clumsy – left her alone for the entire trip. Not once had they laid a hand on her, and she’d done everything in her power to ensure she didn’t give them a reason to, yet it was so different to what she’d expected. It was almost as though she was carrying a plague of some sort. She ceased to ruminate and found it harder and harder to sleep at night the closer they came to the Mountain.

Dale, however, was apparently the first order of business.

Whilst the majority of the King’s army continued on to Erebor, Thorin, the princes and a select group of about two score dwarves continued on through the front gates, dragging their captives with them. Sky imagined that, had she gotten to visit the city as a tourist rather than a prisoner soon to become the royal family’s personal plaything, she would have enjoyed it much better. It was beautiful. From the rows upon rows of houses built one atop the other, to the white and black marble of the temples; from the intricately carved stonework of a mason’s guild, to the perfectly sculpted statues of dragons, knights in their stone armour, Elven women on horseback and human women – or at least they looked like human women – chiselled in the act of pouring invisible water from pitchers supported under their arms; from the crystal fountains to the high stone walls that surrounded it all, Dale was everything Sky had imagined it would be.

Aside from all the slaves.

She cringed at the cries of a young man tied to a whipping post. The dwarf taking the knotted rope to his victim’s back was chunky and burly, his beard long and coarse, spattered with blood. Sky shuddered and forced herself to look away, marching on in stony silence, trying not to cry as she was pushed past a human child of about ten years of age who had been chained like a dog and left in the mud outside the house she assumed he lived in.

Too soon they came to a halt, and Sky felt herself being dragged forward through the throng of soldiers until they broke free of the pressing, smelly bodies and she was thrown at Thorin’s feet. He dismissed her guard gruffly, before grasping her by the back of her collar and hauling her upright again. She kept her eyes on the ground until he ordered her to walk ahead of him and she risked a glance up to see a short flight of stairs leading to a terrace whereupon stood the fattest dwarf she had ever seen. He was dressed in silks of silver and turquoise, and heavy gold jewellery hung from his thick neck, wrists, fingers and earlobes, the many gemstones set into the pieces glinting in the late morning sun.

“Lord Ragunn,” Thorin greeted him, giving him a curt nod of the head in response to the other’s answering bow.  
“Your Majesty,” he replied; his voice was oily smooth, oozing from him like unset tar. Sky hated him already.  
“How did you fare against the savages in the North, Your Grace?”  
“We routed them easily enough. Once we brought real warfare to their doorstep they scattered like frightened little rabbits,” said Thorin, raising his voice slightly for everyone to hear. The soldiers laughed loudly. Sky gritted her teeth, and at the bottom of the stairs she thought she heard a soft thud followed by a groan, and guessed that one of the Heath men had made his displeasure at Thorin’s comment too obvious. She didn’t dare look however, keeping her eyes cast down. Their safety depended on her swallowing her pride and not rubbing their captors the wrong way. Ragunn guawffed along with his ruler, and next to them she could see Kili smirking out of the corner of her eye. She realised she was staring at Fili’s lips and looked away swiftly.

 _‘It’s not your fault those moustache braids frame them so beautifully,’_ said a naughty little voice in her mind. _‘Shut up!!’ ‘I bet they taste as good as they look….’ ‘I SAID SHUT UP!!’_  
She came back to her senses at the feel of a large strong hand wrapping around her arm like a vice and shaking her to get her attention.

“SKY!!”

“I’m sorry!” She babbled out quickly, wincing as Thorin’s grip tightened.  
“A day-dreamer this one,” he remarked to Ragunn, before turning her to face the crowd gathered below and calling out in Khuzdul. There was a stirring in the ranks, before a dwarf with a hairstyle in the shape of a starfish shoved his way through the larger soldiers. With a jolt Sky recognised him as Nori, but her attention was suddenly seized by two slim figures standing forlornly behind him with their hands bound in front of them. Her heart sank and she couldn’t stop herself whispering the older girl’s name. “Leadawn….”

“Ah, so you _do_ know them. Excellent.” Thorin breathed in her ear, and she shivered involuntarily. “What do you want with them?” she asked, voice wavering slightly. “Information.” He yanked her closer to him and grasped her chin roughly, forcing her to look at him. “Where did the other tribe members go? Where are all the women and children? How many guards did their leader send with them?” She only stared at him.

He growled and barked an order at Nori, who tugged on the ropes of his captives until they knelt, before striking Leadawn hard across the face. Sky tried to pull away and run to her, but Thorin just spun her around and pulled her back firmly into his chest, hands closing her wrists in an iron grip and crossing them over her body to be held on opposite sides. She went limp after a moment of futile struggling, silent tears threatening to spill, but she did her best to hold them at bay. She would not give them any reason to think her weaker than they already must.

“Let’s try that again shall we?” He murmured, and she hated her body’s reaction to having him so close…. His voice and his proximity were almost too much. Her only saving grace was the slight unpleasant body odour all the dwarves suffered from as a result of travelling for the past month. It helped to keep her focused, but despite his smell it was still difficult. He continued, to her relief seemingly oblivious to her embarrassing state of arousal, “How many soldiers were sent with them?”  
“I don’t know,” she gritted, then bit back a sob as Thorin nodded in Nori’s direction and the former thief hit Leadawn again, much harder by the sound of it. The poor girl groaned and clutched her head in pain.  
“Please! Leave her alone!” Sky pleaded, and subconsciously began to struggle again. The arms around her tightened and she hissed, stilling quickly.  
“How many?” Came the wickedly sensual voice in her ear again. She made eye contact with her old friend…. And gave in.  
“Two-hundred,” she whispered.

“Louder, girl.”

She repeated the number and Thorin nodded, then spoke again. “And where did they go?”

“You’ve taken the Withered Heath! Isn’t that what you wanted? It’s yours! Isn’t that enough?!” she begged, her voice pitching higher in desperation. In answer he forced her to her knees before slapping her twice, all the while maintaining an outer appearance of complete calmness. He seized her by the hair and turned her head to face him, speaking in a soft, yet terrifying tone that froze her blood. “You agreed to co-operate if I continued to let the Heath men live. I have fulfilled my end of the bargain. If you go back on your word one more time, not only will I have your beloved comrades executed, I will also have it done right here, in front of the child.” He indicated the petrified girl she now recalled was named Pitha kneeling on the other side of Nori, her round face streaked with tears.

“Tell me,” he said, almost as though they were talking over a cup of tea each, “How old are your two adorable little friends?” Shaking slightly, in both fear and anger at how the girls were being treated, Sky muttered, “Fourteen and six.”  
“Ah, good. I guessed correctly. To my knowledge, the older one will already have begun her cycles. An oblivious virgin now, but we can remedy that soon enough.” Before she could say or do anything, Thorin had gestured at Nori, to which his mouth twisted up in a nasty smile. The next moment, she watched in horror as he and the dwarves closest to Leadawn converged on her. She cried out in fear and disgust, flailing wildly and scrambling to get away from their lecherous fingers. “Stop this! Please! I’ll tell you what you want to know, just stop them!” Sky yelled, meeting Thorin’s amused gaze beseechingly. He bellowed a single, harsh-sounding word over Leadawn’s screams and the soldiers stopped whatever they were doing instantly, drifting back into the semi-circle around the base of the stairs with rather peeved expressions, leaving the girl they had been on the verge of violating sobbing piteously in the centre, clutching her dress to her where it had been torn. “A pity,” Thorin commented, “I’m sure they were rather looking forward to that. Like waving a juicy piece of meat in front of a dog’s nose then taking it away. I don’t like disappointing my warriors, so I sincerely hope you will indeed tell me everything I wish to know.” There was a lengthy pause as he let that seep in, then he crouched beside her.

“I will ask you one last time,” he murmured, tucking a lock of her hair behind her ear almost tenderly. “After that, nothing you can say or do will save her. And it will be on _your_ head.” He took her continued silence as comprehension, and continued, growling now, “What is their destination?” She took in a shuddering breath before answering, “I was not made privy to that information, _but_ ,” she raised her voice slightly as his face hardened, “I know which direction they went.” His head cocked to one side and he looked at her expectantly. “North. They went North. I don’t know why or where exactly, but that was the way they were going when I left them.”  
He nodded, then patted her back, “There see? That wasn’t so difficult. Why did you have to be stubborn and put your friends through all that trauma?”  
Her hands balled into fists and she bit her tongue hard enough that she tasted blood in her mouth. Thorin rose and held a quick conversation with Ragunn, then gave a string of orders to the soldiers below. Several broke off and dragged the now enraged Heath men up the stairs and past them. The younger man spat at Sky’s face and she flinched as a few drops hit her, shame flooding her as he cursed her in his native tongue. The elder of the two however, gave her a sympathetic look before they were both herded away into the building behind them.

“Where are they going?” Sky asked, eyeing Thorin worriedly.

“I’m keeping my word. They will be given clean, sturdy clothes, supplies and coin enough to get to Esgaroth, where they can find jobs and earn a sufficient amount to travel elsewhere if it so pleases them. They will each be given a document stating they are free men under my jurisdiction and not to be enslaved.”

“Thank you,” she said through gritted teeth. Then a thought struck her, “And the girls?” Thorin turned and regarded them coldly for a moment or two before looking back at her questioningly, “What about them?”  
A wave of suspicion washed over her and she stared at him accusingly, “You never told me you had them. You intended for me to have nothing to barter for their freedom with!” She gasped as in the next second her back was to a pillar, dangling a foot from the ground as the dwarf King lifted her bodily to be eye to eye with him, the steel in his gaze enough to stop her breath as efficiently as the hand wrapped tightly around her throat. “I have been more merciful to all of you this day than I am obliged to be, _salrûna_ ,” he snarled, moving her a little away from the pillar only to slam her against it again. She had room for a hurried intake of air before the pressure increased to cut it off.  
“I think you forget too quickly your current predicament and that, I fear, will be harmful to your health. I suggest you stay out of matters that do not concern you, or there will be dire consequences.” He released her and she slumped, gasping for air, to the cool white marble below.

“Sire.”

Thorin turned to Fili, once again calm and collected. “Yes, Fili?” The blonde prince glanced briefly between where Sky sat and where the two girls now huddled together at the base of the stairs, thinking carefully before he spoke.  
“She is clearly well acquainted with them. I am sure she only challenged you so foolishly because she was blinded by fear for their welfare. Perhaps they have become like sisters, or even daughters to her. Would it not be wiser to ensure they are kept safe and out of the hands of those who would seek enjoyment from them? We could take them with us to Erebor; put them to work in the kitchens. They’d have plenty to eat and would be out of the cold. The woman might not honour her part of the deal once she knows the men are free, but if we hold onto her friends, she will have no choice but to keep her word. If she tries to escape or attempts to harm one of us, it will be to their detriment, and she will have no-one but herself to blame.” She stared at Fili with resentment. Not a day would go by without fear of her former companions being grievously injured for any perceived recalcitrance. On the other hand, Thorin did not seem about to release them as he had the two men. Perhaps the prince’s suggestion had been beneficial in regards to their safety. Only time would tell.

Thorin nodded to Fili, and the blond stepped forward to issue an order to the remaining guardsmen. Two picked up the girls’ ropes and tugged them along behind as they clanked off, rounding the building and disappearing into the street adjacent. Sky watched them go pensively, shooting Leadawn an apologetic look which was returned with a neutral expression. She clearly couldn’t decide whether or not she felt gratitude for being spared sexual assault or anger that the older woman had given up the location of their more vulnerable tribe members. Sky had never agreed with the Heath doctrine which stated that one often had to be sacrificed for the good of many. She refused to believe even now that she’d made a mistake in stopping Leadawn’s attackers through giving Thorin what he wanted. There had been no other choice. She could not have stood by and watched her old friend be subjected to such atrocities simply to keep the location of the others a secret. If Thorin wanted them badly enough he’d find them anyway, sooner or later, and Leadawn had needed her right then and there.

She was broken out of her reverie by Kili taking hold of her bicep none too gently and marching her back down the stairs, following his uncle and brother. He kept glancing down at her, as though daring her to make any kind of move. So she did. Though it was smoothly disguised as a stumble. Kili grunted and winced as her foot landed hard on the instep of his own, much more heavily than possible for a mere accident. His grip slackened for a moment, and she took advantage of that to rip her arm away and reach up as though to use it to steady herself by way of his shoulder. Instead she ‘accidentally’ dealt him a glancing blow to his top lip and nose with her fingernails. He glared at her and she made a great show of apologising to him, but the triumphant glint in her eyes most likely told him a different story. Luckily for her, Fili called something out to his sibling from up ahead; the dark haired prince growled something under his breath before snatching her arm again – much tighter this time – and dragging her with him, limping ever so slightly, to where his kin were waiting for them.

Some squires – Sky wasn’t sure dwarves had squires, but even if they didn’t, she guessed that they were the equivalent of human squires – approached them with three of the most beautiful ponies she had ever seen. Bedecked in long silk caparisons and each protected by criniere, croupiere, flanchards, peytral and testiere presumably made of mithril, they looked every bit like Royal steeds. She cringed at her use of the word ‘steeds’. She was in danger of sounding like bloody Princess Fiona from _Shrek_ …. Her thoughts were rudely interrupted yet again by the youngest prince as without warning he seized her around the waist and slung her like a sack of flour over the front of his saddle. She bit back a cry of protest and instead made do with shooting daggers at him. He pretended to ignore her as he settled in behind her, gathering up the reins and kicking his mount into a canter to catch up with the King and Crown Prince who had ridden ahead aways, but the corner of his mouth had twitched up into a crooked smirk she would have just _loved_ to wipe off his handsome face….  
The soldiers fell into step around them and they moved out, heading once again toward the Lonely Mountain.

The Mountain that was soon to become her personal living hell.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thorin. You are a nasty, sinfully sexy bastard. Now go bathe so you can swamp everyone with your equally as sexy non-travel overpowered scent. Look out people, I think the next chapter will contain the really dirty, dark smut you’ve been waiting for…. I smell LEMONS IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT DISTANCE!!!! MWUH HA HA HA HA!!!! REVIEW PLEASE!! OR YOU WILL BE FLOGGED!!
> 
> Armour Terms:  
> ‘Caparison’ – cloth covering often used in conjunction with ‘barding’ (the generalised term for equine armour)  
> ‘Criniere’ (also known as manefaire or crinet) – a set of segmented plates that protected the horse's neck  
> ‘Croupiere’ (also crupiere bacul or crupper) – protection for the horse's hind quarters  
> ‘Flanchards’ – protection for the horse’s flank  
> ‘Peytral’ – designed to protect the chest of the horse  
> ‘Testiere’ (or chanfron; also spelled champion, chamfron, chamfrein, and shaffron) – medieval plate armour to protect a horse's head
> 
>  
> 
> Khuzdul Translation:  
> Salrȗna – slave; feminine singular  
> Much gratitude to Dwarrowscholar (not a pen name by the way; look them up on the general internet) who spent so much time putting together an actual English-Khuzdul DICTIONARY, which is what I used here.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys, thanks for being patient with me. I hope you enjoy this chapter. 
> 
> I do not own any characters, places, etc but my own OCs.

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Dwarves didn’t like boats.

Sky pondered this interesting titbit of information as her legs and arms swung to and fro with the rocking motion of the pony’s strong, steady gait beneath her.  
It would have taken only a little over half the day to reach Erebor had they gone by boat. Yet they all insisted on riding or running there. She watched in grudging admiration as the short but powerful legs of the soldiers on foot pounded relentlessly into the ground. Kili would occasionally slow the pony down to a trot in order to stay within the protection of their ranks, but once they’d all but passed him he would kick his mount into a canter again. Their ponies were as hardy as their riders it would seem.

She had already noticed her riding companion possessed an extreme lack of patience. He shifted often in the saddle, not from discomfort, but from boredom and an increasing urge to get somewhere. His left hand strayed often to the hilt of his sword, caressing the pommel with his thumb and loosening it in its scabbard every five minutes or so. Her abdomen was beginning to ache slightly from the saddlebow digging into her ribs by the time they were close enough to see Erebor’s front gate. She attempted to shift herself away but couldn’t find purchase for her hands in order to push up off the thing causing her grief; she flopped down again with a long suffering groan. One of the pony’s forelegs landed unexpectedly in a shallow dip, causing it to stumble slightly and jab the saddlebow into her side again. Kili cursed and brought it back under control;

Sky groaned again, much louder this time, then scowled as Kili cuffed her on the back of the head, “Shut up.”  
“I didn’t say anything!”  
He gave her a warning look. She just shrugged and dropped her head to watch the pony’s hooves churning up the grass and dirt beneath them…. And groaned again when Kili shifted forward and unwittingly pushed her harder onto the unforgiving lump of leather. “What in the name of Aulë is the matter?!” he growled. “This is _really_ uncomfortable. My belly hurts,” she whined. He rolled his eyes. “When we dismount, I’ll rub it for you,” he said, his deep voice dripping with sarcasm. “That would be very nice, thank you,” she gritted back at him. He smirked, “You have to rub something for me in return though.”  
“Oh, I’ll rub it alright,” she hissed as she was jolted once more, deliberately this time if the look on his face was anything to go by, which she was sure it was, “I’ll rub it fucking _raw_.”

Without warning he grabbed a handful of her hair and yanked her head up as far as it would go before bringing his mouth to her ear, "You will need to guard your tongue a little more carefully here.... Or you may just end up losing it." She didn’t reply and he released her after a moment, thinking that was the end of that. He was wrong. “You’ll need some better threats than that in your arsenal.” He glared at her and she shrugged, “Just saying,”  
“And why is that, pray tell,” he said through clenched teeth. She smiled grimly up at him. “I was under the impression I will be needing my tongue. Am I mistaken? Who ever heard of a tongueless whore?”  
Kili snorted, then chuckled…. Then broke out in laughter. Fili twisted around in his saddle with a questioning look and Kili responded, still chortling, "Good catch, brother! I doubt we will ever have a dull moment with this one. Skilled with her mouth in even more ways than the usual!" He winked at him; Fili just raised one regal eyebrow before turning to face front again. Kili regarded his passenger thoughtfully. “So long as you still do as you’re told,” he murmured, whilst stroking a gloved finger over her lip. She opened her mouth slightly then lunged, and only his swordsman's reflexes helped him manage to pull his hand back in time. "Though we really are going to have to do something about the biting...." he murmured. She bared her teeth at him in a mirthless grin; his own lips began to curl back in an answering snarl, but their attentions were suddenly drawn to the haunting call of a horn.

“The sentries on the battlements have spotted us. News of our triumphant return will have spread through the entire Mountain before we’ve even passed through its gates,” he told her, grinning down at her slumped form. “We’ll have some things to attend to once we are inside, but afterward you shall be receiving our full attention.” He smirked at the fleeting fear that must have shown in her eyes for a brief second, then patted her back in an unexpected soothing gesture. “Not to worry. If you are obedient and keep a respectful tongue in your head you will fare well enough.” She stared at him for a moment, unsure what to make of him, but his own gaze had already turned back to the path ahead of them, which was becoming harder and harder to make out in the dimming light.

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 _'How did I get into this mess?'_ she thought as she - as best she could from her awkward position still draped over Kili's saddle - stared wide-eyed at the soaring galleries and landings of the Mountain fortress and what seemed like hundreds of dwarves passing along them going about their business. She couldn’t see the highest level, even with the thousands upon thousands of torches and lamps filling the visible rooms and hallways of each. Crosswalks and stairwells obscured her view, though she doubted it would have made a difference even if they hadn’t.

Her world flipped suddenly when the collar of her tunic was grasped and she was hauled backward. A sharp aching pain flashed through her buttocks and back for a brief moment before dying down to a dull throb. She was on the marble floor staring up at Kili as he smirked down at her. She glared back and debated giving him the finger, but decided it was most likely a waste of her time as she doubted it existed anywhere in Middle Earth let alone in Khazad culture.  
Instead she stood, trying not to wince and show him that he’d hurt her, brushing herself down and straightening her clothes.

No sooner had she gotten to her feet, a rough hand wearing knuckledusters clamped down heavily on her shoulder. She didn’t need to look to see who it was, but by force of habit she turned to check. Dwalin stood there, huge and imposing, made even more fearsome by the chainmail and breast plate he wore over his usual gear.  
“Come on, lass,” he grunted, giving her a light shove to get her walking in front of him. She glanced over to where the three Durins were now on foot and attempting to push their way through the large crowd which had gathered to congratulate them.  
“They’ll be visiting ye later on,” came the gruff voice behind her, “For now ah’m escortin’ ye tae the chambers ye’ll be occupyin’ whilst ye are the King’s conso–”  
“Sex slave,” she corrected him bitterly.  
“What was that?” He sounded miffed.  
“Sex slave,” she repeated, not looking at him, “You can say it. Giving it a fancy name doesn’t change what it is.”  
He spun her around sharply, “Ye’ll need tae start watchin’ yer words, girl,” he hissed, eyes darting around the hallway they had been moving through as though ensuring none of the dwarves passing them were listening in. “Ah understand ye would feel angry, rebellious even, however fer the sake of yer companions if not fer yer own, be careful that nothing but honorifics, unquestionin’ respect an’ the occasional well-placed flattery rolls off yer tongue. Are we clear?”  
She pressed her lips firmly together and reluctantly nodded. Satisfied, Dwalin pushed her forward again.  
It seemed like they’d travelled miles through passageways, over walkways with no handrails and a terrifying drop to somewhere far below, up long flights of stairs and through more doors than she could possibly have counted even if she’d tried by the time they reached the level on which the Royal Apartments had been constructed.

She would get lost without an escort, she was sure.

Dwalin pointed out the doors and the guards stationed at each one, “Those are the Crown Prince’s chambers…. Back there were the King’s,” he waited until they’d passed the double doors of both quarters before speaking, almost as though the short tour had been an afterthought. “Those are the younger prince’s,” he gestured toward a single, though still large door with intricate carvings of a similar design to the others they had seen and nodded a curt greeting to the sentries. Finally they reached a rather non-descript looking door with a heavy iron bolt fixed to the outside. Sky gave Dwalin a pointed glare which he returned as he opened it and pushed her inside, “Enough of that. Ye said ye understood, so get on with it. With any luck ye may still be intact by the end of the month.”

The door slammed shut behind her and the sound of the bolt sliding across had her pressing her body up against it, calling Dwalin’s name, begging him to come back and let her out. The clanking of his armour faded away and she was left to explore her quarters. The room she found herself in was very dim; shadowy shapes could be made out here and there and she could just see a sliver of light filtering in from between some curtains opposite her several yards away. She stood and made her way carefully across to the window, sweeping the floor in a circular motion with each foot prior to setting it down to avoid bumping into or treading on anything.

Curling her hands around the rough fabric, Sky took a deep breath before yanking them apart, blinking rapidly in the bright moonlight now flooding the space around her. When her eyes had adjusted her heart sank as the shadow of the iron grate barring the huge window fell over her and the floor behind. There was a balcony beyond it, and after that, a deep ravine sparsely decorated with the odd pine tree here and there. Any others looked lifeless, growing at odd angles on the rocky slopes their seeds had been unfortunate enough to have called home. Would her captors bend and twist her to their will the way the Mountain had done to those trees?

She realised the window wasn’t a window at all. Rather, it consisted of two doors made entirely of glass. She pushed down on the handles and they clicked; she stepped back to allow the doors to swing open, then sighed in unsurprised frustration at the sight of the chunky padlock fastening the grate closed.  
She should have expected it. Had really.  
Giving up on the balcony, she moved to lie down on the long divan she could now see in front of the fireplace which was set into the wall back over by the main entry. It was soft and extremely comfortable. It reminded her of her mother’s couch when she lived with her in a time that now seemed a life-time ago. She hadn’t been able to study on that couch because she’d always fallen asleep, it was just so damn comfy.

Her eyelids fluttered closed, and she shivered slightly from a cold draught sweeping through her chambers via the open ‘window’. _‘It doesn’t matter,’_ she thought numbly, quaking again, _‘If I freeze into a block of ice they won’t touch me. When I thaw I’ll melt into water and evaporate, and I’ll be beyond their reach.’_ A grim smile tweaked the corners of her lips, then her face relaxed as she drifted off, imagining their stunned expressions when they came in only to find her gone, spending the rest of their nasty lives wondering how in Middle Earth she had escaped.

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A gentle hand grasping and shaking her shoulder woke her a few hours later. Instinctively she brought the side of her own down hard on the person’s elbow, collapsing it and putting it in a firm lock as she simultaneously swung her legs back onto the floor and stood, keeping the pressure on her attacker’s arm so they stayed where they had been crouched. A keening wail reached her sleep-dazed brain and she opened her eyes finally to see a Woman curled up in pain at her feet, tugging uselessly at Sky’s hands.

The door burst open and a dwarf in chainmail and carrying a halberd stormed in, scanning the room quickly for danger before turning back to the two female humans by the divan with a confused expression. Sky released the other woman who collapsed fully onto the floor, sobbing and clutching her arm to her chest.

“What is the meaning of this?” asked the guard, clearly unsure what the best course of action was. “She startled me, sir,” mumbled Sky. She knelt down beside her ‘attacker’, making soothing sounds and rubbing her back, mumbling an apology every now and then. “I swear I mean you no harm, miss,” sniffed the maid, because that was what she must be, addressing an otherwise fellow slave in that manner. “I was sent to bring you some more appropriate clothes and make you presentable, by order of the King.”

Sky glanced down at her travel-worn tunic and trousers contemplatively. It would be the perfect way to flip the bird at Thorin by remaining like this and doing everything possible to look like a complete urchin for when he arrived. She wasn’t far off it as it was, she thought grudgingly, then decided against it. He had her friends. Their safety was of the utmost importance. She’d already failed them by assisting her captors in their attempts to capture the escaped Heath tribe members, though in all fairness she doubted anyone with a conscience who wished to sleep at night would have chosen differently. The only thing she could do for them now was grit her teeth and bear whatever the Durins had planned for her.

The guard, now satisfied that this new consort wasn’t in fact in the process of viciously slaughtering her chamber maid, returned to his post outside the main entrance, bolting the door behind him.

“What is your name?” Sky asked, feeling suddenly very guilty about hurting the person who might become her only non-sexual contact in the time to come. “Lasl, miss.”  
“Please, call me Sky.”  
“The King would not approve of such familiarity with you miss; begging your pardon miss,” said Lasl, retrieving the pile of clothes she had placed on the floor before she had moved to awaken Sky. “They have a lot of superiority complexes around here….” the smaller woman muttered, then pulled off her tunic, followed swiftly by her pants and under-wrappings.

“The wet room is through here, miss.” Lasl led Sky through a set of doors she’d noticed before but had steered clear of. She could guess what was through them and didn’t want to go anywhere near it until she had no choice. It seemed she would have to in order to bathe however, so she reluctantly followed the other woman in. The bedchamber was smaller than the living area, though still a sizeable room. An enormous four-poster bed took up most of the space; the mattress and coverings were missing. Sky eyed the various rings and leather straps fastened in different locations on all sides of the bed apprehensively. She refused to let her eyes wander to the other contraptions she had glimpsed in their places around the room. _‘Not until absolutely necessary,’_ she told herself and took a deep breath as she turned to where Lasl had disappeared via another door opposite the one they had entered through.

The wet room consisted of a large hole several metres in diameter, spanning a good two thirds of the room and filled with crystal clear water; steam rose just above the surface and Sky peered fascinatedly into its depths for a moment, trying to see how it was kept heated. All she could see were two pipes near the bottom, one on either side, each covered with a metal grate. A long oaken bench took up most of the remaining space, and a low washstand on which sat a jug and bowl had been placed next to it. Shelves had been carved into the solid rock wall nearby, which contained several bars of soap, two scrubbing brushes and a score or so of small vials holding liquids and powders of many different colours.  
“Just get in miss. You must be weary from your journey. Rest and relax for a while whilst I fetch a towel for you.”  
“Thank you, Lasl.”  
Sky stepped down onto the stone ledge running around the wall of the spa – there really was no other word for it – sinking into the delicious warmth with a sigh.

Lasl returned a few minutes later, placing a thick white towel down on the bench before selecting a bar of soap and one of the larger vials of clear liquid and kneeling behind Sky. When she felt a hand on her shoulder Sky jumped and moved swiftly away from it. Lasl looked confused.  
“It’s alright,” Sky assured her, “I can take it from here.”  
“I do beg your pardon, miss. My job is to clean and present you the way His Majesty has ordered. We will both get into trouble if I do not. I promise I will be as non-invasive as I can.”  
Sky sighed and nodded.

Lasl bathed her and washed her hair with the liquid. When Sky climbed out, her maid proceeded to rub a sweet smelling oil into her skin. Thankfully, she allowed Sky to do her breasts and more private areas herself. She then dried and thoroughly combed Sky’s shoulder-length hair for her. “Best not try to cut it any shorter, miss. The King would not be happy with that. Dwarves value long hair.”

Once they had finished, almost an hour after they’d started, Lasl picked up the garment she had brought for her.  
It was made of silk the colour of saffron, and had so many folds of cloth tangled up in each other she would have had trouble trying to figure it out on her own. The part meant to go around her neck was made of thick black leather with a silver buckle that would go behind her head under her hair. It looked disturbingly like a dog collar. Lasl had just finished untangling and straightening everything to make it easier for her to get into, when a voice broke in abruptly, making them both jump.

“No need to put that on her now. She will just be taking it right off again.”  
Sky spun to see Kili leaning casually against the door frame, that infuriating smirk on his annoyingly handsome face. She opened her mouth to retort but snapped it closed again when Thorin called her from outside. She gulped and glanced at the dress.  
“Come,” said Kili, pushing away from the frame and disappearing into the bedchamber. Lasl darted out of the washroom, curtseying deeply to the Durins before leaving.

“Come out or I will drag you out,” came Thorin’s voice again, a little more firmly this time. Taking a deep breath, she left the dress where it was and stepped through the doorway.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s right!! I did that just to taunt you!! Naughty me…. I figured you were probably getting sick of waiting however, so I posted the bit just before the lemon begins so you can have that to read whilst I finish off the lemon scene and hopefully I’ll have it posted by tonight. Thank you all for your patience. :D Please leave a review. One word: Good or Bad would be fine even. 4 or 3 letters respectively people. Not much to write but it’ll give me a basic idea of what you think even if you don’t want to be descriptive.  
> If any of you have something you’d like me to include in the story, leave it in your review and I’ll see what I can do with it. Skywolf, over and out.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER – LEMON

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told myself when I first began posting this: They’re either going to hate it and my friend CelticAngel86 will be the only one reading it, or they’re going to love it. Either way, it’s going up. I’m quite proud of myself for writing something so many people clearly enjoy. I’m not particularly happy with this lemon unfortunately, but I wanted to keep her first time with them simple, like they’re sort of breaking her in. It feels a little rushed to me, but hopefully I can stand and deliver some better lemons later on. Hang in there for me, it does improve…. I hope. Any Khuzdul words may change later on as I feel I may be misunderstanding the grammatical usages Dwarrow Scholar has listed next to each one. I want to do the lessons and find out how best to read the dictionary, but in the meantime, I’ve made do with my own interpretation. If you have a better understanding of what the words should be, let me know. In the meantime, read and enjoy. :)

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As she emerged from the wet room, she felt three pairs of eyes raking over her, drinking in every part of her on display. She kept her own riveted to the floor, concentrating on keeping her breathing even and not attempting to cover herself or run. She wouldn’t get far anyway.

After a moment, Thorin rose from his seat on the newly made bed – the mattress, sheets and furs must have been set up whilst she was bathing; she hadn’t heard anyone come in, but then again, she hadn’t heard Thorin or his nephews enter either – and walked leisurely toward her. There was a pause and then one of his large hands was sweeping her still-damp hair over one shoulder, exposing her neck and back to him, before stroking a single finger down her throat, over her clavicle and onward to cup her breast. His other hand clasped her ass and gave it a firm squeeze. She managed not to jump. She wouldn’t give him that satisfaction at least. He chuckled and pulled her into his chest, forcing his length against her back and buttocks. She could feel his hardening cock pressing into her and bit her lip to avoid moaning. Thorin rumbled something in Khuzdul and the two princes began to strip. The torches ensconced at even distances along the walls flickered, throwing parts of the room into shadow and light eerily. The atmosphere was tense. Though she could silence most of the softer sounds Thorin was drawing from her as his hands wandered lightly, teasingly over her skin, she could not slow her frantic heartbeat as it fluttered wildly in her chest. She was afraid, she was aroused, she was uncertain of what exactly they would want from her, but most mortifying to her was how easily Thorin was stoking her involuntary arousal and steadily increasing it to a burning, uncontainable lust.

His hand slid from her belly to her throat, tipping her head back and to the side slightly, then without warning his mouth closed around where her neck and shoulder met, sinking his teeth into the highly sensitive flesh. Sky moaned long and loud, her knees buckling beneath her. Thorin let her sink to the floor, following her down until he was leaning over her, still biting her neck. He released her and stood, moving around her until he was in front of her, grasping her by the hair and yanking her head back roughly. His other hand fumbled with his belt, letting it drop to the ground before starting on his pants. The next moment, his cock was pressing insistently against her lips; he tugged hard and painfully on her hair when she locked her jaw and shook her head, shoving it inside quickly as she yelped, pumping it in and out repeatedly whilst holding her still.

She gagged and her stomach heaved; she barely managed to keep it down, fearing what they would do to her in punishment if she didn’t. Thorin pulled out just as she sensed he was getting close, backhanding her unexpectedly and knocking her to the ground. “Do not resist me again,” he said, voice low, even and threatening. She began to rise, but was pushed back down again. “Did I tell you to get up?” he growled. “No,” she gritted, then groaned as a solid force collided with her face once more, making her head reel.

“No….what?”

She struggled frantically to think how she was supposed to address him, and settled on something that sounded relatively accurate to what she knew of the type of era she was in. “No…. my lord,” she said, only just managing to get the already hated words out. “Better,” rumbled Thorin, “Though you may also use ‘your Grace,’ ‘your Majesty,’ or ‘my King’ for me, and ‘your highness’ or ‘my Prince’ for my nephews. Is that clear?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Good. Now bend over the bed and put your hands behind your back.” She moved quickly to obey, staggering slightly from some remaining dizziness as she did so. She tripped over her own feet somehow and fell forward into Kili, who steadied her with a grin, commenting, “Oops, someone’s eager!” She ripped herself away, glaring at him, before continuing on to the bed. No sooner had she positioned herself as Thorin wanted, she felt a leather strap being tied tightly around her wrists. Kili had used one with buckles near both ends so that she could bring her hands as far forward as her hips but no further, the strip between them pulling taut against her lower back if she tried. An errant thought passed through her head that situations like this were where those double-jointed kids who could use their arms as a skipping rope in the Guinness Book Of Records would finally discover a good use for their ability. She was certainly envying them right then. She felt stubble scratch gently down her side, mirroring the hand on her other.

Then Kili let out a grunt as Thorin cuffed his ear, shoving him out of the way with what sounded like a warning in Khuzdul. Kili just shrugged and began stroking himself leisurely whilst leaning on the wall, watching as Thorin ran his fingers lightly over her exposed opening, humming in satisfaction when they came away slick with her juices. “Kili was right,” he murmured in her ear as he lined himself up with her entrance, “You _are_ eager….”

She could not stop the moan of pleasure and pain that was all but wrenched from her as his thick, hard member rammed into her suddenly, throwing her forward slightly onto the bed. One of Thorin’s arms snaked around her waist tightly whilst the other slid under her arm and across her breasts to grasp her opposite shoulder and pull her body back toward him as he thrust himself into her again, drawing another moan from her, to her abject mortification. Kili chuckled and Thorin rumbled low in his chest, picking up the pace as she relaxed around him. He pounded into her, letting out a strangled groan when he came violently inside her faster than she’d been expecting, holding her hips in place until he was finished.

“How is she,” asked Kili huskily, his own arousal flaring up quickly.  
“Very…. tight,” muttered Thorin, “Very responsive, very sensitive. Not much foreplay needed.” His ability to form complete sentences seemed to have deserted him for the moment. Kili waited for the King to nod his permission, then flipped her over onto her back and took her roughly, his thrusts wild and brutal; she gritted her teeth and fisted the sheets, doing her best not to show him how much pain he was causing her. Only a little pleasure shot through her occasionally, and it seemed like hours before he was finally done. He took a nipple between his teeth and nibbled it gently; it hurt but also felt good this time.

Thorin said something to Fili who gave a long-suffering sigh, but moved to stand between Sky’s legs as seemingly ordered. Thorin and Kili sat down on each side of the bed to watch. Sky couldn’t help the jolt that swept through her body at the touch of his hand sliding gently up her stomach to her breast, kneading it softly as he prepared himself with his other hand. Then the beads tying off the end of those moustache braids Sky had always adored about him in the films were dragging over her skin, following the warm sensation of his lips always an inch or so ahead of them. She shivered and moaned, blushing instantly as Kili chuckled, reaching across to squeeze the breast closest to him a little harder than his brother had done. She winced and shot him a quick glare, though she managed to refrain from snapping her teeth at him as she had been doing so far. Not with Thorin and Fili present.

Fili was tracing his fingers around her clit, brushing over it occasionally and making her jump. After a few minutes of exploring her body, he eased himself inside her, far slower than his kin had done. Sky pressed her head back into the mattress as his cock gradually filled her, stretching her in a pleasurable way that made her hips rock involuntarily up into him, silently begging for more. Thorin watched curiously from where he sat, taking in her changed attitude with an air of amusement. Fili had started moving inside her, unhurriedly, leisurely, stroking her sides occasionally and murmuring reassurances to her. Sky felt herself beginning to respond favourably to him despite her overall unwillingness. His gaze drifted over her slowly relaxing form, watching her as her breathing fell into synch with his and her own eyes fluttered closed with another moan, though it was a moan of pleasure. He groaned as her walls gripped and undulated around him, pulling him further in with each thrust. He stilled for a moment, letting what Sky supposed had been his climax sink back down again before continuing, the corners of his mouth twitching upward briefly at the soft whine that broke free of Sky’s mouth in response.

“Get on with it,” his uncle growled, in the process of fisting himself into hardness again. Fili sighed and picked up the pace, dropping one hand between Sky’s legs to stimulate her clitoris. Her own increase of pleasure was obvious; her head turned from side to side and partly suppressed sobs and moans burst past her lips. Fili straightened up whilst continuing to pound into her, using his free hand to take a nipple in his fingers and roll it gently; she felt herself tighten even more around his cock. He gasped and jerked and Sky was grateful that she followed close behind him despite him coming first, her mouth open in a silent cry of release. He stayed in her for a few moments longer then pulled out slowly, giving the hand hidden from Thorin’s view a light squeeze of encouragement. Then he was gone, being replaced by Kili who rolled her over again and pulled her cheeks apart, plunging a thick finger into the wetness beneath and pumping in and out rapidly. He added a second and third finger, stretching her deliciously until she moaned in pleasure and unconsciously rocked into him. He growled and withdrew his fingers only to thrust into her a moment later.... And waited. She expelled a large breath of air and fought the urge to ram her hips back into him. After several torturous minutes of Kili occasionally pulling out, pushing back in and stopping inside her again, Thorin grumbled a soft command and Kili began pounding her mercilessly. Her cries and mewls filled the air and she felt herself tighten around him as she came. Kili groaned in ecstasy and buried himself balls deep in her, both of them shuddering as he released. She moaned at the feeling of his hot seed filling her and obeyed his order not to move until he'd gone soft.

She felt calloused palms sliding up and down her back and threading into her hair. Thorin, who had climbed onto the bed, pulled her head up and pressed his mouth firmly over hers, tongue seeking entry, which she gave after a moment’s hesitation. Kili stepped back from her, watching fascinated as his semen leaked out and trickled down her creamy legs, then placed his hand on her buttocks and nudged her forward. Thorin evidently realised what his youngest nephew was doing and gripped her arms as he laid down, pulling her over him and thrusting up into her without preamble. She gave a little cry and fell forward, supported only by Thorin's arms, moaning in combined pain and pleasure as she felt Kili behind her with his hand on her buttocks again, pushing her down onto Thorin's thrusts, making the King's cock go deeper and deeper each time.

After a few minutes of this, Thorin slowed down to a leisurely pace and gave Kili an order in Khuzdul. Sky felt his weight disappear from behind her, turned to look without thinking and yelped as Thorin brought his hand down hard on her bottom, grabbing her chin and pulling her head round roughly. "Eyes forward," he growled and drove himself into her a little harder. She fought hard to obey as she heard Kili return and sit behind her again. Her whole body tensed as his fingers, slick with oil, began pressing a bit too quickly into her anus. Her breathing sped up and she started whimpering slightly, screwing up her face in discomfort. Thorin growled something and Kili stopped, though he grumbled under his breath about it and received a harder cuff this time, after which he fell silent, reluctantly waiting for the next instruction.

“Have you not done this before?” Thorin asked, and Sky swallowed nervously before answering. “A few times, your Grace. But it never got any better so I gave up on it. I’m sorry.” She ducked her head, waiting for some kind of admonishment, maybe even punishment, despite having had no inkling back then that she would eventually need the skill. He hummed deep in his chest, and she cursed inwardly as it made heat pool in her loins. His own thick digits began pushing gently at her puckered hole, and she whimpered again, gritting her teeth in expectation of more pain. He leaned over her, bringing his mouth to her ear, and she gasped softly as his rich voice – uncharacteristically gentle – spoke at a low, but audible volume against her concha, the words blurring together in her mind as a haze came over it, though some part of her recognised the words as Khuzdul, before her mind went blank and her vision black.

When she came to, it was with an uncomfortable feeling in her ass…. Thorin was back underneath her, thrusting slowly but gently up into her, offsetting the strange sensation radiating from her anus with pleasure. He nodded to someone behind her, and the pressure eased for a moment before returning again, this time with some pain, but at the same time an equally good feeling that was amplified when Kili – she assumed it was Kili – drew out further and pushed back in once more. Thorin increased the tempo gradually, his nephew following suit, and soon, to her embarrassment, she was purring at the sensations of their cocks ramming into her simultaneously, repeatedly striking her two most sensitive spots deep inside her. The pleasure was crippling. To make matters worse, Kili was placing little bites all over the skin in his reach on occasion, tracing his tongue over it after each nip. Within minutes her vision was flooded with white as she screamed her release, the two dwarves in her groaning in tandem, following swiftly behind her.

Kili eased out of her anus, Thorin doing the same underneath her until she was lying, drained, on the mattress, panting into the furs. A hand pulled her head up by her hair and a semi-tumescent penis was all but shoved in her face. “Clean it,” Thorin ordered, and with a barely disguised grimace Sky obeyed. Kili pressed a wet cloth into her hand which she used to wipe his, fighting to keep from elbowing him in the solar plexus in response to his smirking down at her.  
When she was done, the dwarves donned their clothing and the princes left.  
Thorin remained for a moment, regarding her contemplatively. She kept her eyes lowered and waited.

“I do not know just how highly your Heath barbarians valued hygiene, but the Khazad believe it to be very important, even for _salâr_. You shall bathe every night and after every session with any or all of us. If you do not you shall be punished. I will judge the type and severity of the penalty. Cleanse yourself now then get some rest, after eating your meal of course, which shall be brought shortly. In the morning you will be attired more appropriately to receive us if required, or there will be consequences for both yourself and your maid.” He paused to card his fingers through her tresses with a frown. “And no more cutting your hair.”

“Yes, my lord,” she mumbled, wishing he would just leave already. She refused to break down in front of him; steadfastly _refused_ ….  
“Good girl,” came the patronising answer, then he finally, _finally_ vacated the room.

She waited until she heard the bolt slide back into place behind him, before she all but dashed into the wet room, intent on scrubbing every trace of them that she could from her body. She even ducked her head under the water for as long as she could, coming up gasping for breath, water trickling down her face; her chest heaved and some of the droplets tasted like salt. Once she’d dried herself off, she took two of the fur blankets out to the divan, lit a fire in the hearth in the living space by way of one of the torches for extra warmth and closed the balcony doors as an afterthought.

Her chambers had become unbearably cold, but she could not bring herself to sleep on the bed. The platter of food on the sideboard by the main door was left untouched. She would most likely bring it straight back up again anyway.  
Her eyes closed and she sank into the comforting darkness of sleep.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please read and review. I hope that wasn’t too rushed to enjoy. The following ones will be better, I promise. 
> 
> Khuzdul Translation:
> 
> Salâr – Slaves; plural form  
> Much gratitude to Dwarrowscholar (not a Fanfiction pen name by the way; look them up on the general internet) who spent so much time putting together an actual English-Khuzdul DICTIONARY, which is what I used here.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER – LEMON

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The next morning, Sky was awoken by the gentle prodding of something cold and metallic on her foot. She drew her legs up quickly and wobbled slightly as she sprang into a crouch, staring with wide, alarmed eyes at the bottom of the divan at first, then frowning in confusion at Lasl. The maid was standing where she had leapt about a metre away, the fire poker held in a pitifully useless ‘defensive’ position in one shaking hand. Sky’s mouth twitched at the corners, but she managed not to laugh, instead forcing her amusement into a very strained smile which Lasl warily returned.  
“Can I help you?” Sky choked out, after taking a moment to compose herself as best she could.

Lasl observed her a little longer before slowly relaxing her guard and placing her ‘weapon’ down on the floor beside her where she could snatch it up again should her mistress launch into the attack unexpectedly.  
“You didn’t eat your dinner last night, miss.”  
Sky shrugged, “I inexplicably lost my appetite.” A flash of sympathy appeared briefly in Lasl’s dark green eyes, but then she busied herself folding the furs and carrying them back into the bedchamber, calling over her shoulder, “Breakfast is on the sideboard, miss. Please eat some of it at least, or you’ll be naught but skin and bones soon. The King doesn’t like skinny women.”  
The threat – though not from Lasl herself – was clear enough. Sky went to stand, then groaned and fell back on the cushions. Her entire body ached terribly. When she looked down she winced at the large, finger shaped bruises beginning to form on her hips and ribs. Her cheekbone where Thorin had hit her felt tender and swollen; she touched it with one hand and fingered a thin line of dried blood. She hadn’t noticed that at the time. It must have been inflicted by one of his rings.

The smell of eggs, sausages and fresh bread reached her nostrils and she breathed it in deeply. Her stomach growled demandingly and she decided that – traumatic event or no – she had neglected it long enough. The sausages were unlike anything she had eaten before. They weren’t beef but most certainly were not pork, or even lamb.

“Lasl,” she asked the maid as the latter bustled around straightening the pillows and lighting a new fire in the hearth, “What are these sausages made from?”  
“Venison I think, miss,” came the distracted reply. Lasl went to the wet room and returned with the dress which had been left on the bench the night before.  
“I can’t figure out where all those bits go,” commented Sky, shoving an entire egg into her mouth, then chewing and swallowing quickly as a look of disapproval crossed the other woman’s face. “Come here,” Lasl sighed; Sky put down a piece of bread and dragged her sore, battered form over to her. Within moments the collar was strapped too firmly around her neck and Lasl was doing something complicated with all the strange and seemingly rogue strands of material at her back. “It is my job to dress you in the mornings and generally present you in whatever way the King orders. You may call on me if you require help redressing after a… session. There you are. All done, miss.” Sky’s hands reached up to loosen the leather around her neck, but the maid stopped her, saying, “That’s as loose as it can be, miss. You’ll get used to it.” She sighed and collapsed back onto the settee.

The sound of the bolt sliding back and the door opening drew the curious gaze of Lasl and the instantly alert one of Sky. Kili strode in, growling at the maid, “Get out.” She curtsied to them both, shot an apologetic look at Sky, then fled the room. Sky stood warily, rounding the couch so it was between her and the dark haired dwarf.  
“What do you want?”  
“Now, now. Is that any way to address your prince?” Admonished Kili, swiping the remaining half of a sausage and biting into it. “You don’t act like one,” Sky replied sullenly. He frowned at her, placing one foot on the wall behind him and leaning against it. He took another mouthful, speaking whilst chewing, “And I suppose you know how a prince should behave?”  
“I have a general idea –”  
“Do enlighten me,” came the terse response. His dark brown eyes had hardened, and he glared threateningly at her. She just glowered right back, stating, “I was told rulers – and potential rulers – are meant to be kind, compassionate, just and honourable. And intelligent,” she added as an afterthought, staring pointedly at Kili. He scoffed, “Ouch. That was a bit below the belt.”  
Sky smiled sweetly at him, “I can do a lot worse with ‘below the belt’ as my target.”  
He narrowed his eyes at her, “Do that again and I’ll have you flogged.”

“Do _that_ , and the next time you come here alone I’ll slip a blade between your ribs!”

He had pushed himself away from the wall and was in front of her before she could bat an eyelid, snaking his arm around her waist and pulling her firmly into him. He had trapped her left arm against her side, his free hand coming up to snatch her right as she instinctively raised it defensively.  
“Be still, and listen very carefully,” he said in a soft, controlled voice, “I have no doubt that you might be able to kill me, or Fili, or even Thorin if you really wanted to and were given the prime opportunity to do so. But once you had done the deed, _what exactly_ were you planning on doing next? Even if the guards did not bolt the door after us, even if there were _no_ sentinels outside that door, you would not get further than the middle level. Erebor is heavily fortified and – as I am sure you already noticed when being escorted here – it is almost a labyrinth of tunnels, staircases, hallways and chambers. You will be caught, tried and executed within the space of a few hours. And have you really forgotten so soon those girls you were so eager to save? What do you think will happen to them? Nothing good I imagine.”

He traced her lip with his finger again, raising an eyebrow in a silent dare for her to repeat her usual reaction to it, but she just stared at him.  
“You may _think_ you know how a prince is expected to behave, but I _know_ how a mere _consort_ is meant to conduct herself.” He released her and stepped away. “She must, first and foremost, obey orders without question.” Sky folded her arms and met his eyes rebelliously; he chuckled. “Any form of defiance will be met with disciplinary action,” he warned. “She must learn to respect her betters,” he said, circling her casually until he was behind her. She turned to face him, but his hands on her shoulders spun her again, working on the straps Lasl had finished tying only a few minutes ago. “She will serve them in any way they wish of her,” he murmured in her ear, releasing the leather around her neck and letting the garment drop to the floor before reaching around to cup both of her breasts in his large hands. “And she will do so without hesitation.”

She stood stiffly in his grasp, fists clenched in an effort to refrain from using any of the multiple techniques she could effectively perform on him in this position. “In the end,” he whispered, dropping a hand between her legs and making her flinch, “you are still just a whore and I _am_ your prince. You have to do whatever I say, or the barbarian girls will suffer for it…. after you yourself have been sufficiently dealt with of course.” He pushed hard on her clit and she gasped in pain, lifting instinctively up on her toes in a futile attempt to get away from it.

They were interrupted by the door opening once more.

“Uncle,” Kili greeted, all but throwing Sky aside; she caught herself on the back of the divan, wincing at the slight burning sensation she could still feel as an echo of his abuse.  
“Nephew,” Thorin’s curt reply resonated pleasantly in Sky’s eardrums. She hated when it did that; hated liking anything about him. He was a monster and she had been lucky so far in having yet to incur his true wrath.

“We had the same idea it would seem,” commented Kili, removing his gloves, dropping them on the floor and beginning to work his belt buckle free.  
Thorin shook his head, “Indeed. However, I am afraid you will need to leave now and attend to Fili. He is in a council meeting and sent a retainer to request your presence. I told the messenger that there was no need as I was already heading up here myself.” Kili shrugged, “He can make do without me.”

“Kili,” the older dwarf growled warningly.

“Uncle, I was in the middle of –”

“NOW!”

He actually jumped slightly as Thorin’s command cracked through the air like a whip, but he quickly composed himself again and scowled. “Pick up my gloves, _salrûna_ ,” he snarled at Sky, who swiftly obeyed, though when she saw his – comparatively – tall frame blocked the King’s view of her, she made eye contact with Kili as he took his gloves from her and gave him a furtive wink. His eyes flashed at the open, defiant mockery, but before he could rebuke her for it in some way Thorin cleared his throat pointedly and Kili pivoted on his heel, all but storming out of the room.

Sky swallowed nervously under the eldest Durin’s scrutiny, all confidence and rebelliousness gone, vaporised in his presence. She sensed he was patiently waiting for something and experimented with a deep bob, hands clasped together at her belly button, “Your Majesty.” He inclined his head ever so slightly in acknowledgement, then moved toward the bedchamber, calling her to come with him without looking to see if she was following. They both knew she would. She had already learnt the day before that disobeying him was not an option. Not the smart one at any rate.

When he turned to speak to her after halting in front of a table with leather straps in the far corner of the room, she made sure to be right there behind him. He nodded in approval, then ordered her to lie down on the table, which she did after only a brief moment of hesitation. She fought desperately to make herself stay still as he tied her wrists and ankles down so that she lay spread eagled on the wooden surface and tried not to panic when her vision went dark, caused by the blindfold he had tied over her eyes.  
“Let us begin.”

Once again she focused on her breathing, keeping it even, calm, controlled…. Despite her fierce concentration, or perhaps because of it, she flinched violently at the first touch of just his hands on her skin, running surprisingly lightly over the bruises and down to her legs and feet. “Easy….” His baritone voice had impossibly dropped an octave further, reverberating in her skull and the entire room.  
“Easy now…. Relax.”

_‘Breathing…. Focus on breathing…. In…. out…. In….. ou –’_

The air exited her lungs in one big whoosh as a crack echoed around the chamber and a burning line appeared on her thigh. Another crack and another burning sensation, this time on the softer skin of her stomach. She released a little whine but otherwise managed to stay silent. Thorin hummed, long and low, and an involuntary shiver swept through her prone form in response.

“You are doing well. Considering how easy it was to arouse you last night, I was under the impression your skin would be too sensitive to withstand much pain of any kind. I wonder what your limits are….” This time he brought the implement he was using – she thought it was a cane, but she couldn’t be sure – down with more force and she hissed through her teeth, praying he wouldn’t do it harder again, or at least, not on the same location…. A cry of agony was torn from her when his next two strikes landed directly on each of her shins, her limbs pulling desperately at her bonds. “Ah…. There they are,” Thorin muttered, almost to himself it seemed, before growing weary of her struggles and flicking the end of the cane up under her chin.

“Be still,” he commanded, in a tone that brooked nothing but unquestioning obedience. She froze instantly, though she was whimpering a little and tears were rolling down her cheeks unchecked. “You have a better level of endurance than I was expecting,” he commented, dragging the tip leisurely across her breast and down one side. “That pleases me. However it is not quite adequate yet for what I require of you, therefore we will simply have to increase it…. Through conditioning.” Her breathing sped up slightly in anticipation.

“Try to relax.”

She barely stopped herself from growling a list of obscenities at him. _‘You try relaxing, strapped to a table, knowing someone is planning on beating you so you ‘withstand pain better’! All without a safe word to make them stop when you can take no more….’_  
Her mental tirade was cut off as a shockwave of pain travelled through her, emanating from her abdomen, her body thrashing and a soundless wail echoing in her mind. “Please, Your Majesty,” she heard herself pleading desperately, “It’s too much! Please, a respite! Plea –” She gasped as her hair was pulled sharply, then choked slightly when the tip of a rag tickled the back of her throat for a moment before settling against the inside of her cheek. The gag was tied in place with a leather strap and the torture began again.

Everywhere was agony in what must have been its purest form by the time he stopped. Parts of her had gone numb she realised gratefully, namely her legs and stomach, but her chest and arms – from below where the circulation had been all but cut off at her wrists – felt hot as though they were covered in glowing embers. Her face contrasted the feeling drastically, the cold air in the chamber wafting over her sweat and tear-stained skin there gently. If only it could cool her upper body too…. A calloused hand ran lightly over her right side unexpectedly and she flinched violently. His lips followed, tongue flicking out to soothe the burning skin first over her solar plexus, then turning his attention to each breast and nipple, alternating until she was moaning at the pleasure now washing through her, intermingling with the pain. She hated it. She needed it. And worst of all, she needed _him_ , right now.

He pulled away and she couldn’t stop the whine from escaping her, blushing and berating herself at his answering chuckle. Then there was silence. Not knowing where he was terrified her more than seeing him – and what he might be preparing to torment her with – ever could. Where was he, what was he doing? She went rigid as, without warning, the blade of a knife made contact with the side of her neck, gradually retracting until the point was pricking the soft flesh under her chin. A drop of warm liquid trickled over her throat and pooled in the dip above her collar bones. It was all she could do not to give into the debilitating panic rising rapidly; her breath came in panting gasps and she was in danger of hyperventilating, her heart sounding like thunder in her eardrums.

“It is not often I find a prisoner suitable for the role you hold now, _salrûna_ ,” he murmured, drawing an invisible line down her body with the blade just touching her skin. “I will not waste a valuable consort in satisfying my more aggressive tendencies. Your life is in no danger, so calm yourself.”  
_‘You didn’t say you won’t cut me though,’_ she thought, but endeavoured to do as he said, hoping he would be finished soon. He alternated between tracing parts of her anatomy with the knife and brushing them with his lips, placing the occasional nip and making her jump in surprise. Finally the knife disappeared, though if she was honest with herself it had been extremely arousing, and the sound of Thorin’s garments and metal fastenings falling to the floor reached her ears.

Her bonds were cut and she held her breath when he lifted her in his arms and carried her over to the bed, laying her down before covering her with his large, heavy frame, capturing her mouth hungrily and kneading a breast whilst his other hand went between her legs, lifting one and placing it over his shoulder. She knew what was coming next, but inhaled sharply all the same as he entered her quickly, giving her no time to adjust as he began plunging firmly into her, driving himself in as deeply as possible each time.

She was still blindfolded and her hands moved to untie the cloth around her eyes, but Thorin paused to bat them away, pulling them above her head and securing them to the headboard with some leather handcuffs. She moaned as he recommenced thrusting into her with a vengeance, raising the other leg to join the one already on him. The pleasure increased tenfold, and Sky was sobbing, so close to climax it was maddening. And of course her tormentor chose the moment right before she came to withdraw, ordering her in a gruffer voice than normal to roll over which she did to the best of her abilities, limited as she was by the cuffs, biting back a complaint about his impeccable timing. She was sure it would earn a punishment, and she didn’t think her poor body could take much more battering that day. He would visit much worse pain on her than he had should she anger him.

As it was, it felt like Thorin was crushing her into the mattress, his hands gripping her already bruised sides and making her hiss in pain, though it was always followed by a mortifyingly loud moan of pleasure. He was building her up quickly again, pounding her brutally from behind, his own breathing ragged as he somehow sped up, thrusting faster and faster. He was causing her to see stars in the otherwise black sky of her blindfold when he found her most sensitive site and made a point of slamming into it repeatedly. Her now high-pitched cries increased in volume, panting and moaning wantonly beneath him. Impossibly, she tightened further around him, pulling him deeper in and propelling him over the edge with a roar. He spilled his seed inside her as she herself climaxed, wailing, the dwarf above her keeping her impaled on him until she had taken in everything he had to give. She shuddered and moaned as he pulled out, and was about to spread herself on the bed when a hand sliding under her belly stopped her.

“No. Wait a moment.” His weight disappeared for a minute or so before he was back, making her gasp as he pressed something soft, yet firm and cylindrical in shape into her sore vagina, feeling two straps being tied around one thigh. These were followed by another two around her other thigh, in addition to one about her waist, securing the dildo inside her. Thorin then laid down and reached out to draw her against his body, enveloping and overwhelming her in his warmth and powerful, masculine scent. She shivered at his breath brushing over her ear, his hands running lightly all over her for several minutes. She found herself relaxing into him, though she mentally cursed him all the while.

They had lain there for what seemed like hours, though in reality it was most likely only half of one, before Thorin stirred and rose from the bed. Sky had almost dozed off by that time, but woke when he moved; she made as if to follow him, however he shook his head, “No, no. You stay and rest. Wash yourself and re-dress. And finish your breakfast,” he added, giving her a reproving glance. “Yes, Your Grace,” she muttered.

“In a few weeks, Lord Balin will be visiting you –” He stopped in the act of dressing and gave her an amused look at the disgusted expression that had appeared on her face before she could catch it. “Not for those reasons. That right is reserved for myself, my nephews and whomever else I wish, but you would be wasted on Balin.” She sighed in relief and he chuckled, then continued donning his garments and speaking in a more serious tone, “No. He is being sent here after you’ve settled in, to teach you the finer details of the behaviour expected of you here. You will not be locked up in these chambers your entire life. There are protocols you need to follow when taking part in court life or simply wandering Erebor’s halls, which I shall give you permission to do once your month long probation has ended.”

She raised her head so quickly, she thought for a moment she might get whip-lash, staring at him hopefully. His own countenance was stern and expressionless as he went on, “If you violate any of the rules outlined to you by Lord Balin, your first punishment will be the instant loss of your limited freedom, to be earned back by whatever means I deem fit. Is that clear?” She swallowed a few times before answering, “Yes, my lord.”  
“Good. You may remove the toy at your own leisure” He pulled on his fur trimmed cloak and left without another word.

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that met your expectations. If it didn’t, drop me a review with ideas of how to make it better, what you’d like to see happen, etc, etc. You’re as much a part of the creative process in this story as me you know. Help me out here. Please?  
> Skywolf, over and out.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER – LEMON
> 
>  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. It’s been quite a long wait…. At least I updated before like, I dunno, a year!! Yeah, yeah, excuses, excuses…. Anyway, here is the chapter you’ve all been waiting so patiently for. I hope it meets your expectations. Before anything else though, I need to acknowledge some people. (Thank you, by the way, to all the guest reviewers. If you could get an account on Fanfiction and enable PM that’d be great. If you have an account but haven’t enabled PM, please do so. I would love to be able to reply to all the wonderful reviews I’ve been getting). First off, a special thank you to CelticAngel86, who really got me started on seriously thinking about my ideas and actually turning them into an attempt at a story, and of course for all her wonderful support and masterminding…. Check out her story The Hobbit Reprised. Next on the list of special mentions is wockerjabi, my gap finder and unofficial beta. Whilst they weren’t a part of this chapter per se, they have been an extreme help in the mine field that is every character’s backstory and the history of this AU…. I have developed a lot more of the story behind the story now (which is very important to the story you read because it influences my decisions, of course) thanks to this wonderful reader/reviewer. And last but not at all means least, AthenaSophia85. My wonderful official beta who has masterminded with me late into the night (sometimes my end, sometimes her end as we’re on two different sides of that bloody International Date Line) and gets most of the credit for the lemon in this chapter. I wrote the bits before it and after it and edited it so only Sky’s thoughts and feelings are present for the readers to know. The rest of the lemon is credited to Athena, and may I say I greatly appreciate it because compared to her my lemon writing sucks lol. Her ten years of experience over me in this field shows. Anyone who catches the Game of Thrones reference gets a virtual star sticker!!

Sky sat on the divan, sketching the crackling fireplace in front of her absentmindedly in the blank book Balin had sent her 'to take down notes in' when he actually had time to spare for her 'comportment lessons' as the King's Advisor so delicately put it.

It had been a little over two, incredibly long, indescribably boring weeks since her arrival at Erebor. Thorin had only visited her four times since then, for which she was grateful, despite her isolation from any other contact besides the largely elusive maid.  
Lasl had followed the King's wishes vexingly well. Her answers to any queries or comments Sky put to her were short yet polite, and she skilfully avoided all and any forms of conversation 'Miss' attempted to lure her into. When Sky snapped at her in frustration one day and angrily told her just how annoying it was that the only person she ever saw - who wasn't tying her down to be taken against her will - wouldn't even _talk_ to her, Lasl had apologised with genuine remorse, but reiterated the imminent danger for both of them should she acquiesce to Sky's desires.

Sky had muttered her own expression of regret for her outburst before shutting herself in the wet room and attempting to meditate to achieve calmness of mind and release of her pent up aggression and other negative emotions....  
Unfortunately it just so happened to be the day the heat vent in the room had been blocked by some inconsiderate bird's nesting materials where it exited the mountain.... so the only thing she ended up achieving was passing out from the excessive heat until Lasl came in to see if Sky needed anything and found her senseless form sprawled on the stone floor.  
She had developed a habit of leaving the door to the wet room ajar from then on.

Sky shivered as a cool draught ruffled her shaggy forelock and brushed teasingly over her bare feet. She sighed and stood to shut the balcony doors which had blown open again by a stronger gust earlier and she just couldn’t be arsed at the time to wrestle with the recently broken latch again…. She really needed to request for it to be fixed, but wasn’t sure how to pose it and to whom. She was met by another breeze as she stepped up to the gently swinging glass doors… and paused for a moment as she eyed the iron manacles hanging down from where they were attached to the balcony railing.  
Thorin had entered earlier than normal about a week ago and caught her sleeping on the divan. When asked for an explanation, Sky had tried to lie to him, spinning the story that she had been sitting in front of the fireplace and must have drifted off. He had seen through her instantly and within minutes she had been stripped and suspended via a rope which dangled from the ceiling of her bedchamber, her feet bound to the corresponding frame beneath to keep her from struggling and her body from swinging. Thorin had dealt her five agonising strokes of the cane across her extremely sensitive breasts, smiling at her screams, then giving her the same on her buttocks. Before releasing her, he had warned her that the next time he found she had slept anywhere other than the perfectly good bed provided for her, he would chain her to the balcony outside overnight. He commented that perhaps she would be more appreciative of her warm, comfortable bedchamber, having experienced the frigid temperatures and hard, unforgiving rock of Erebor’s uppermost slopes. Any attempt to lie to him again would be met with severe punishment like that which he had already issued, only more painfully for the second offence.

As she stood in the open doorway, one hand on the grate and the other holding her sketchbook, the wind rustled the thinner branches and remaining leaves of the nearby twisted trees. With Autumn nearly over, Winter was coming. The thought crossed her mind that it might be her last chance to draw her little valley before the first snows hit and half buried it. Then she would have an entirely new landscape to capture. Anything to while away the boring hours of confinement….  
She winced at the thought of her treatment at the hands of the King.  
Well…. Almost anything.

Sky leaned forward to rest the book on the bars, as sitting down meant the only things worth drawing were obscured by the solid rock railing of the balcony outside. The light was dimming swiftly as the sun set. She turned the page depicting her half-finished fireplace for a blank piece, though she paused for a moment to look at the overleaf, which held an illustration of her favourite tree, closer up than she could actually get. There was nothing particularly remarkable about the picture….  
Except that when she’d first sketched it, there had not been a figure seated at the base, waxing a bow string as the bow itself was clasped firmly between his knees, dark shoulder-length hair falling in soft waves across the chiselled features and shadow of a beard. A sword which was clearly of dwarven make leant as he did against the twisted trunk behind him. Though his tresses half covered his face, there was no mistaking who the dwarf – for despite the lack of at least a well-established beard he was clearly Khazad – in the rather detailed sketch was.

But why had she drawn _him_ of all people?  
Kili had not shown up again, at all, since Thorin had sent him out disappointed and quite vexed almost three weeks ago. It had become a little nerve-wracking actually, waiting for that door to open and admit the dark haired young dwarf. He was a jerk; an arrogant asshole, but she couldn’t deny she found him attractive…. And more than a little interesting. Why she enjoyed baiting him so much and from whence she dredged up the courage to do so was beyond her comprehension. Perhaps it was no more complicated than a simple form of revenge for his own taunts, she didn’t know.  
So why was he in her sketchbook? There was no doubt it had been her hand tracing those lines, shading his garments, hair and the area around him, penciling in those dark, magnetic eyes….

How she hated him.

Her fingers reached out to tear the page from the book angrily, but hesitated as she stared at it again. It was one of her best images of a human – or rather, _humanoid_ in this instance – subject. Perhaps if she could ignore _who_ it was and just focus on what she’d managed to get right, she could use it as a reference for if she wanted to draw another person down the track…. Things with eyes always annoyed her.  
This particular thing with eyes drove her up the wall, despite having re-created them perfectly this time. Or perhaps because of it. She could imagine him being any other dwarf if she filled in the beard…. But those eyes were what made the figure undeniably Kili. They were focused on the string in his hands, but they were still unmistakably his.

There was no question as to whether or not she should hide the book now. She had no idea how she would explain to Thorin why such a detailed sketch of his nephew was included in a book full of her other doodles.  
She glanced around frantically, decided the living space was out and ducked into her bed chambers. The wet room was obviously a no-go zone for anything to do with paper, and there were no nooks or crannies around the room suitable for it.

The only place left was the bed itself.

Sky found it highly doubtable Thorin would lie on his belly and reach under the frame for anything…. But she did so herself anyway, first to check as thoroughly as she could that Thorin didn’t in fact stow any of his ‘toys’ – she shuddered – under it, and second to push the book in as far as she could, sliding herself under aways to get it as close to the centre as possible.  
She wriggled out again until she was just clear of the frame and stumbled awkwardly to her feet, cursing and tugging her skirts out of the way before turning…. And bumping into the solid wall of a dwarven chest.

He had entered silently, his years of scouting and hunting helping him move across the room toward her without a sound until he was standing almost on top of her, waiting for her to rise and notice him. And notice him she did. Her breath left her lungs with a soft whoosh as she started, instinctively jerking herself away from him and falling backwards onto the bed as her legs hit the edge. Kili chuckled in amusement, then skirted the four-poster leisurely as Sky scrambled off the other side and faced him nervously, though she did an admirable job of trying to hide it.

“Did you miss me?”  
His voice was low, taunting her as he backed her slowly toward the wall on the opposite side of the room.  
“I was pining away for you the entire time you weren’t in my hair,” she retorted in a sarcastic, simpering voice, trying not to wince as even she could hear the slight waver in it. Then she dropped back into her normal, chestier tones as she sneered, “Didn’t get eaten by an orc then? What a pity.”  
She could sense the cold stones behind her now and swallowed when her progress was halted abruptly as she hit the barrier with a soft thud.  
“"Why is it that your clever little tongue only dances for me, hmm?"

He was almost on top of her now, though he was certainly taking his sweet time about it. Trying to rub her helplessness in her face, evidently.  
She scowled at him. “Piss it off too much and it might cut you."

He closed the remaining distance between them with a single stride, slamming her roughly into the wall with his forearm across her throat, partially cutting off her air supply and catching the hand she tried to push him away with, growling, "It's going to get you into a lot of trouble one of these days. Mahal help you if you let it loose around my Uncle.... You're afraid of him but not of me, why?"  
"Because you don't have it in you to break me,” she wheezed, tugging weakly at his sleeve, spots littering her vision from lack of oxygen.  
He put a little more pressure on her trachea and leant in to nip at her bottom lip, murmuring, “That would depend on what you mean by 'break.' Do not think for a second I cannot make you _beg_." He hissed the last word in her ear, then pulled his forearm away as she began to thrash, desperately needing air. Instead he caught her wrists and swiftly pinned her back against the wall, his body flush against hers.  
“Get off me!”  
“You need to learn your place, _salrûna_!’ He bit her neck hard; she grunted in pain and went still. He held on a moment longer to ensure her submission, then ran his tongue over the bite soothingly, before raising his mouth to rest directly over her ear, rumbling, "And your place is beneath me, when I so desire it."

Sky experienced a moment of unwanted arousal…. Then rallied her senses enough to wait until he thought she had really given in and eased up on her lower half, before bucking around and trying to knock him off. She caught him off guard and managed to get a leg out for some leverage to dislodge him, though he unfortunately kept a tight, unbreakable grip on her wrists.  
“I said, _get off me!_ You insufferable _prick!"_

He moved with her then twisted his hips suddenly and all but threw Sky to the ground. He wedged a knee between her thighs as quickly as he could and straddled her, pinning her firmly beneath him, then forced his knee hard against her centre; if she struggled, she would only rub herself on him.  
"I'll get off you, Little Doe.” He grinned down at her as she bared her teeth at the pet name, clearly meant to insinuate he was a hunter and she the prey, “When you're _wet_ and mewling for more."  
"In your _drea–_ !" Sky tried to wriggle free again but gasped as a jolt of pleasure shot up her spine from her nether regions. If she moved, she would get more of that unwanted sensation; she could already feel the beginnings of need sparking in her belly. She would _not_ keep that smirk on his face by bringing herself to completion on his _leg_ , dammit!

She cursed him mentally and went limp under him.  
Evidently sensing her true surrender, he leaned over abruptly and latched his mouth onto the curve of her neck, where it met her collarbone. Without preamble, Kili began to suck and lick her skin, even nibbled it a bit. When he didn't get an immediate response as Sky was fighting against the pleasure, he rubbed his meager beard against the full length of her neck, then laved her ear with his tongue, tugging her lobe between his teeth.  
"I've been wondering what you taste like without my uncle or brother lingering on your skin," he whispered into her ear in a deep, throaty purr which sent licks of heat curling through her stomach. "You taste better than the finest wines in the Greenwood."

As abruptly as he’d bent over, he rocked back on his heels and pulled her up with him. Moving quickly, he pushed her against the bed.  
"I'm going to let go of your hands. If you do anything other than what I order, I'll cane your pretty little thighs raw." He made sure his threat sank in before releasing his grip.  
"On the bed and lay down on your back, hands above your head."  
Sky obeyed reluctantly, dragging herself into the position he'd dictated.  
Kili followed her and immediately took hold of her wrists again, binding them firmly in the set of cuffs which were kept around a loop in the headboard. He grinned at her easy submission, but before going any further he slid his body down hers and grasped her ankles.  
He bound her feet, spread-eagled, so Sky couldn’t do a thing to disrupt his fun, then looked her over, apparently quite satisfied with himself.

"Now, this is a lovely sight," he began by running a calloused hand up her smooth legs, then without warning, he grabbed the bottom of her skirt and tore it in half clean up to navel.  
"Right where I want you." His expression grew darker and he abruptly shoved his hands beneath her ass, lifting her up as far as she would go with her feet bound. Then, with a cheeky wink, Kili bent over the rest of the way and began devouring her.  
Sky whimpered before she could stop herself, then bit her lip and tried to muffle her responses in her throat.  
Kili licked her firmly in one long swipe, then used his nose to nudge her clit.

He slid one hand out from beneath her, shifting the majority of her weight against his forearm and ran his hand roughly along the curve of her hip, his fingers tangling in the torn fabric of her dress. He growled and pressed his mouth more firmly against her as he shook his wandering hand free.  
Sky released the air in her lungs in one gust at the sensation seizing her lower half, but held as still as she could to keep from jostling herself against him.  
She pressed her head hard into the pillow under it, determined not to respond any more favourably to his ministrations than she already had.

Kili never stopped moving, never gave Sky a chance to expect what came next. He burrowed his tongue beneath her hood and swirled the tip over and around the exposed little nub of nerves nestled close to her skin. Then he slid his hand stealthily around her thigh, pressing his palm flat against her to feel as much as he possibly could. Then he turned his head, abruptly abandoning her clit and nibbling one side of her labia while sliding his forefinger slowly into her, stopping just after his first knuckle worked its way inside of her.  
Kili paused and lifted his head just enough to look up at Sky, his gaze darker than she had ever seen before.  
She could feel heat rising in her cheeks and - to her mortification - moisture pooling between her legs at an alarming rate.  
"Look at that. You're already wet for me." Without another word, he bowed his head again and tortured her with fingers, teeth, and tongue.  
"Fuck you," she gritted, and moaned loudly, mentally berating herself and cursing him in every language she knew.

Kili just laughed against her, his mirth vibrating up through his chest and deep into Sky's quivering core. He began to slide deeper into her at a torturously steady pace, until the whole length of his thick digit was inside of her.  
He pressed his finger into her soft inner walls, searching…. Her fists clenched and unclenched, and finally she ceased to bite back her moans and cries.  
_‘I have to keep still at least,’_ she thought, panting and groaning as he drew little patterns on the skin of her thighs with the hand not exploring her insides and teased her nub until she wanted to scream. _‘Must not give him the satisfaction of moving….’_ She was fast losing the battle though, and they both knew it.

After a moment, he seemed to find what he wanted, just inside of her, high along the curve of her walls; a loud keen was ripped from Sky’s mouth as a surge of pleasure filled her entire being, her vision going white around the edges. Kili made a noise of approval in the back of his throat, then slowly, languorously wrapped his lips around her clit and sucked her gently. At the same time, he withdrew his hand slightly, just to slide his finger back in, pressing firmly on the spongy little spot he had found.

Sky arched off the bed in shock, her hips bucking up into him involuntarily, as though she was no longer in control of her own body. Whatever he'd hit inside her, combined with the suckling of her clit had brought her close to climax within seconds and it was impossible now to cease her movements. She heard him chuckle, likely very pleased with himself.  
How she hated him.  
Now that he had Sky all but riding his face, wracked as she was with the waves of pleasure he was creating, Kili single-mindedly pursued his goal. He lost himself a bit to the moment, and expressed his own wild abandon. Kili lapped the length of her once, twice, three times, and nibbled the sensitive curves of her labia again, thrusting deeply into her with a steady rhythm, their mingled moans filling the bedchamber.

He smoothly slid a second finger in between Sky's slick folds and moved even faster against her, now that she was far more open and willing, and able to handle a harder fucking. His fingers pressed, curled and pounded into her, as he alternated between sucking and licking her clit.  
Sky came so hard and so suddenly, it surprised them both. Kili pulled back just in time to watch her writhing against her bonds, her lithe body jerking involuntarily with wave after wave of a fierce orgasm. Kili chuckled to himself; he kept his fingers inside of her, but slowed his tempo gradually, letting her ride out the fury of her pleasure against his hand. Only when she finally stilled, panting, did Kili pull his fingers out and lift them to his mouth.

"Little doe," he purred, "Look at me." Sky obliged with a whispery little whimper and Kili kept constant eye contact with her as he made quite the show of licking her juices off of his hand.  
Grinning at her still glazed expression, the Prince leaned over her, hovering with his weight distributed evenly between the hands now pressed into the furs on either side of Sky's head.  
"Should I get you to myself again, expect more of that," he all but hummed against her skin, as he traced the line of her jaw with his nose.  
The kiss he then bestowed on Sky's slightly parted lips was just as sensuous and carefully considered as his actions between her legs.

It was slow, but demanding. He brooked no resistance when he teased her lips apart and slid his tongue against hers. Sky did not quite care for the taste of her he now shared, but she was still bound, still incredibly sensitive and pliable after her orgasm, and she didn't have it in her to turn away. Kili took his time ravishing her mouth, increasing his aggressiveness in small increments.  
Meanwhile, he ground himself against her centre with almost unbearable intent. Sky could only whimper into Kili's mouth and pant heavily as the rough cloth of his tunic overstimulated her poor little clit.  
Then he sat back and eyed for a moment contemplatively.

Slowly, teasingly, he trailed his fingers lightly up the entire length of her body, over thigh, stomach, breast and cheek as he reached for her bound wrists, letting them fall onto the pillow next to her head before doing the same with her ankles, then leaned back.  
"Sit up," he ordered simply. "And undress me."  
Gritting her teeth Sky did as she was bid, fighting to keep from attempting to throttle him with the ties of the over-tunic she was unlacing. She didn't want to go too slow in case it looked like she was relishing it and moving too fast would make her seem eager. She wasn't sure how many more of his taunts she could stand at the moment. They were like salt in a wound.

She unstrapped his bracers and thrust them into his lap in a small act of defiance before tugging his tunic off over his head, followed by the chain mail and undershirt.  
She folded her arms and sat back against the headboard, shooting him a challenging glare.  
"Always so rebellious," Kili chided, but his grin took some of the heat out of his words. He tossed his bracers to the floor with a careless clatter, then looked at Sky meaningfully beneath lowered lashes and several locks of errant hair. His hands traced the top of his trousers as he glanced slowly down at himself, then back at Sky.  
"I believe you forgot the most important part, _salrûna_."  
"You offering me another go at them are you?" She sneered, one foot flexing back in preparation at the thought.  
"I will bind your feet down and beat the flats of them if you entertain that thought much longer," Kili responded mildly, but there was an unmistakable edge to his words. His eyes flashed at her, belying the easy smile still curving the edges of his lips.

Mouth pressed into a firm line, she released a resigned breath through her nose before finally subjecting herself to the humiliation of removing his trousers, steadfastly ignoring his cock springing out hard and ready as she pulled them off the rest of the way and tossed them at his head, before resuming her previous position at the top of the bed.  
She allowed a slight smirk to flash briefly across her features but schooled them quickly into neutrality once again.  
Kili sputtered as the garment flapped furiously into his face, but he knocked them aside quickly enough with a twist of his powerful forearm.

Moving swiftly, Kili lunged forward on the bed and grasped Sky by her hips. Without preamble - and with a great demonstration of back, thigh, and core strength - Kili pulled her up off of the bed and fully against himself as he rocked back again onto his buttocks. She was pressed against his chest, their bodies flush from shoulder to knee. Kili tangled one hand into her hair at the base of her neck and kissed her quite soundly as he spread his legs wider apart beneath her, which spread her own as well.  
His other hand had firmly cupped the curve of one smooth, firm buttock. As he rolled his tongue roughly against hers for a second time, Kili flexed his arm and lifted her up slightly. This movement dragged her clothed breasts over the thick hair of his chest and he made a pleased, throaty noise into her mouth as she slid against him. Reaching up he made short work of the collar on her dress; when it came to the ties at her back he just gripped each side and gave a sharp tug, tearing it open the rest of the way before throwing the ruined garment over the edge of the mattress.  
Then his hand moved again, to grasp the base of his cock. Never moving away from her lips, he lined himself up and let the weight of her slide back down his body to sheath him fully in one smooth stroke. Kili finally broke the kiss and growled in satisfaction. Nearly every part of her was touching him, her thighs gripping the outside of his own tight as she now sat imprisoned and impaled on his lap.

Sky moaned under her breath, fighting desperately to keep still and not make any more noises to encourage him.  
Curse dwarves and their endowments....  
Despite her lack of movement, pleasure was coiling in her belly and an unwelcome heat rushing through her limbs in response to his body pressed against hers.  
How she hated him.  
How she wanted him....  
With that admission to herself she went back to hating him again.

Kili lowered his face and chuckled darkly into the soft, warm curve of her neck, just beneath her jaw. He rubbed his stubble across her skin and nipped ever so gently against the sensitive spots there.  
Kili was not as thick as his uncle, but he was slightly longer and his tip pressed firmly into her cervix, filling her up to the point where she felt she might burst if he didn’t start moving.  
He rolled his hips a little harder and bit her neck, wrapping one arm around her back and holding her firmly to him as he began a steady, unhurried rocking against her.

Sky shuddered involuntarily and violently as the movement set her nerve endings on fire. His skin felt like a furnace, setting her ablaze to match, encompassed as she was by him on all sides.  
His grip around her was unbreakable through force alone, and her sex-hazed brain was rebelling at any attempt to make it analyse the situation for an effective escape.  
He was all around her, in her and pressed alongside her. He was fast becoming the only thing she could be aware of. Even the bed and sheets were disappearing from existence in her conscious thought as she responded to his pheromones and proximity, her body hijacking control and beginning to behave favourably toward him contrary to her will.

Sky turned her head away from him, face heating quickly as she suddenly noticed where her hands were, feeling the muscle and coarse hair pressed firmly into her palms.... Or rather, her palms were pressed firmly into his chest. Not pushing him away as she would have liked and part of her was screaming at them to do; just resting there, fingers curling, straightening and occasionally tangling themselves slightly in the thick dark hair across the firm planes of his torso.

He rocked his hips slowly, tangled his fingers in her hair, and ran his mouth over every inch of skin he could reach - her cheeks, jaw, throat and ears. He nibbled and nipped, and feasted hungrily on her lips. She was just slight enough that he could palm the curve of one breast with the hand he had slung around her back.

"Move your hands to my shoulders," he murmured. All the while, he kept rocking against her, pulling her to him, then pushing her away, then pulling her up, then pulling her down. A constant, steady rhythm, neither rushed nor demanding.  
Sky groaned shamelessly as her hands had to change position as ordered, nipples rubbing tantalisingly against the dark haired prince and sending tingles straight down to where they were joined. All the while his mouth was everywhere. She couldn't think straight.... Could barely think at all through the increasing waves of the incredible sensations mounting within her.  
She was close again.  
She was moving with him now, unable to help herself.  
How she hated him....

He slowly, teasingly dragged his hand away from her breast and down the ridges of her spine, dragging a shudder out of her as he did so. He stopped only when his fingers hit the dip of her lower back; he flattened his palm there, then roughly pushed her core against him as he jerked his hips upward in a deep thrust.  
His other slid across her bottom, until he was cupping both cheeks against wrist, palm, and fingers. Slowly, slyly, he slid his hand ever so subtly lower, so that he could slide a finger across the back of her opening, which was stretched wide and taut around the width of his cock. With a dark chuckle into her ear and a lave of his tongue against her lobe, he coated the tip of his little finger in the slickness that coated the skin between their rolling thighs.

Then, he sucked the curve of her ear into his mouth, running tongue and teeth over it to distract her as he moved his hand slowly again. This time, he positioned it so the soaked digit could brush against her tender flesh, nestled between her cheeks.  
With a thrust of his hips and a firm press of his other forearm, Kili bounced Sky up the length of his torso and pressed against her lower back so that she could feel her clit rub against the thick curls at the base of his cock.  
He lowered her and slid his little finger smoothly into her so far unoccupied puckered hole to fully stimulate her. He wiggled it playfully and commanded her in a voice which had dropped deeper by at least a fifth, "Come for me, Little Doe."

Between Kili all but pounding her and thrusting his thick digit into her anus, not to mention the constant bites and licks he gave to the most sensitive parts of her neck and the rubbing of her nipples and clit on his skin, Sky fell in moments, crying out wordlessly as her second orgasm ripped through her.  
She clutched his shoulders for support, and dropped her head into the curve of his neck when she was done, shaking and panting, though mentally screaming at herself for giving into him like that....

"Good girl," he murmured in her ear, as her aftershocks rolled through her, causing her body to rock against his.  
She was helpless to stop her physical reaction; she could hear Kili gritting his teeth as she clenched tightly over and over around his cock. She threatened to coax his own release from him and even he couldn't help a moan, muffled in her hair as she rested her head on him.  
Kili had tightened his grip around her when she came and only after there was nothing more he could coax out of her did he loosen his grip. Cool air made them both gasp, as he removed his finger from within and his hands from her back.  
He manoeuvred her slightly until her legs were spread wide by his waist. Kili didn't move at all within her, as he let his eyes fall where they wanted. He moved one of his hands across her hip and onto her stomach.  
Still seated inside of her, his knees beside hers, he bent over slightly and steadied himself with a hand pressed firmly into the fur next to her waist.  
"You would taste wonderful with honey," he murmured wistfully against her skin, laying his tongue against her flesh and dragging it up and around her navel.

He pressed his palm flat on her other side and moved it over her, his callouses catching ever so subtly against her smoother skin as he mapped a molten path toward a breast. He kept his thrusts slow within her, brushed her skin with his hair, teased one nipple hard enough to nibble with his tongue, and cupped the entirety of the other breast with his hand.  
The stimulation – especially so soon after orgasm – was almost unbearable for Sky, who shivered and moaned softly, the will to resist completely drained from her limbs. She had started writhing against him and Kili moaned his appreciation around the mouthful of breast he held between his teeth.

His own climax came abruptly then, his hips now jerking of their own accord against Sky, as Kili lifted his head and shouted his triumph and pleasure loud enough for the guards to hear. He filled her so thoroughly that when he finally slid out of her – both of them gasping at the release – some of his seed dripped onto the furs beneath Sky's thighs.  
Before it could dry, he scooped it up on one thick finger and reached up to smear it across Sky's parted, panting lips.  
Then, before she could do anything about it, Kili leaned forward and kissed her, pulling her bottom lip fully into his mouth and licking it clean. He made a show of pulling back and smacking his lips as he grinned down at her, smug and satisfied.

"We taste good together, Little Doe." He winked at her, then reached his hand down again and dragged it over the curve of her pussy, smearing the sticky remainders of his seed across his fingers and the palm of his hand. Still grinning, Kili offered it to Sky and quirked a dark eyebrow at her.  
The command was clear though unspoken. Kili was quite determined to have her learn the taste of him. She turned her head in refusal, pressing her lips as tightly together as she could.

"None of that," he murmured darkly. He reached out with his other hand to firmly grasp her chin, turning her to look at him, then flattened his hand across her mouth, pushing a finger past her lips.  
"You will clean your prince, _salrûna_." He bent over and whispered very quietly and very slowly, "And you will taste me as I have tasted you."

 _"Andare a farsi fottere,"_ she muttered, one hand pushing at his chest whilst the other tugged at the wrist belonging to the hand holding her face captive.  
Kili narrowed his eyes at Sky's disobedience. He reached up with his other hand and grabbed a fistful of her hair, at the top of her head where he knew it hurt the most.  
"You will do as you're told, whore,” he hissed. “And you are to speak Westron.... and _only_ Westron!" He shoved his cum covered hand against her mouth again. "Lick it up. _Now_."  
The edge in his voice was unmistakeable, the grip on her hair painful and unrelenting. It seemed his strange tolerance of her rebelliousness had reached a previously unknown limit. Fear of what he might do to her flooded her system and before she realised what was happening, her tongue had flickered out to meekly lap up the intermingled semen and fluids from her own body; she tried not to grimace as a salty tang filled her mouth.  
Thorin tasted better….

She mentally kicked herself for that thought.

“That’s more like it,” he growled. A thought apparently came to him as he leant down to retrieve his bracers after rising from the bed and donning his other garments.  
“What were you doing under the bed?”

Sky had turned away from him and was curled up on her side, but her whole body tensed in response to the question.

_“Answer me.”_

She opted for truth this time around, especially as her fuzzy brain wasn’t in any shape to be spinning believable tales. Besides which he might just reach under and find it, then see she had lied. Her breasts gave a little twinge as if to warn her against it.  
“I was putting my sketchbook there.”  
“ _Your_ sketchbook? I wasn’t aware anything here belonged to you.”  
His tone was snarky and she turned to glare at him.  
“Lord Balin sent it up for me.”  
He scoffed, “That doesn’t make it yours.”  
Sky held her breath and bit her lip to avoid protesting as he dropped to the floor and slid himself half under the bedframe, searching for the book. He made a triumphant sound and withdrew it, sitting on the bed with a self-satisfied air and glancing at her with a taunting grin before opening it to look at the first page.  
It was a doodle of Dibble the Dragon, the mascot from Sky’s days in a children’s music group when she was just a toddler. He was wearing a one-piece swimsuit with polka dots and grinning out at the viewer, his thumbs raised in front of him.

Kili looked so perplexed Sky had to stuff her mouth with a clean section of the bed sheets in order to stifle her unexpected laughter.  
He shot her an annoyed look and she shrugged helplessly, hiccoughing as she attempted to calm down. It had just been such a ridiculous combination in her mind…. Kili and Dibble….  
The dwarf shook his head and turned the page to the next sketch, which was of Lasl as she was busy emptying the chamber pot over the balcony whilst a guard stood nearby, the keys to the open grate dangling from one hand whilst the other grasped a fearsome looking voulge.

On the overleaf she had drawn the rooftops of the city of Dale. She had avoided the streets. Opposite Dale was a rough sketch of the fireplace.  
“I haven’t finished that one yet,” Sky commented, trying to keep her voice even so he wouldn’t hear the nervousness in it. The picture of him was on the other side. If he turned the page again….  
“They’re good,” he stated, somehow managing to make it sound dismissive despite being a compliment, before snapping the book shut and tossing it to her.  
She concealed her sigh of relief as best she could, stowing the book under her pillow with the intention of putting it back in its hiding place when he was gone…. Not that it was really that secret anymore. She could only hope he lost interest and didn’t try to look through it again.

After pulling on his bracers, Kili reached into a pouch on his belt and flipped her a coin. She stared at it for a second, then looked up at him again. He was waiting for something, that arrogant smirk spreading over his face as the moments passed in silence.  
He was intending to embarrass her more, she realised, fingering the smooth piece of rounded metal in her palm. In implying she was a common prostitute, he expected her to take offence and feel even more degraded. The corners of her mouth twitched. Unfortunately for him, for that to offend her she would have to hold herself superior in some way to sex workers…. Which she didn’t. She saluted them for their bravery.  
The coin was deposited next to the book without further ado.

When she leaned back against the headboard and turned to him once more, he looked puzzled and just a little irritated.  
“You are the strangest woman I have ever met,” he muttered, mostly to himself.  
“That’s rich, coming from another freak of nature,” she retorted nastily, then flinched back as his hand shot out to wrap around the bedpost nearest him, his body tensed as if to spring. He seemed to be struggling internally for a moment before he spoke.  
“I would suggest you curb your tongue, _Mushz_ ,” he spat, grip tightening audibly on the wood, “Before I do something I will regret later!”

The look in his eyes was frightening, but held an undercurrent of something else. Sky knew she’d hit a nerve; she’d suspected it would even prior to it leaving her mouth. Part of her felt triumphant at hurting him. The part which was so annoyingly empathetic to everything that moved berated her mercilessly. She was above that kind of behaviour; at least, she was supposed to be.  
Keeping eye contact proved to be impossible, and she averted her gaze before long, focusing intently on a loose thread in the sheets under her.  
The door slammed and when she glanced up again he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you think? If you have questions, if you feel I missed something, had some indiscrepancies, or if you’re just plain confused because of something I wrote (or didn’t write), please tell me. I want to give this story my best shot – especially considering it’s my first real (sort of; I don’t hold high hopes) attempt at one – and I know I do better at really thinking about the important things when others prompt/jog me to do so. Also, if you think this story is going in an arc that you don’t like – maybe you think I’m going to pair Sky with someone you think will make you lose interest for example – or I’m leaving a big plot hole (lol, yes that pun was intentional), tell me your thoughts on that too. You may get the wrong impression (this story will be full of lies, deceit and very wrong impressions naturally) and I don’t want you to be put off from reading the rest of the story because one or more of my characters/plot developments fooled you into thinking the wrong thing…. Basically just talk to me. Please read and review.
> 
>  
> 
> Khuzdul Translation:
> 
> Mushz – Rodent; singular  
> 
> 
> Much gratitude to Dwarrowscholar (not a pen name by the way; look them up on the general internet) who spent so much time putting together an actual English-Khuzdul DICTIONARY, which is what I used here. 
> 
>  
> 
> Italian Translation:
> 
> Andare a farsi fottere – Literally ‘go fuck yourself’ ;)
> 
>  
> 
> Weapon:
> 
> A voulge is basically the predecessor of the halberd. It is a combination of an axe, spear and hook on the end of a long, usually heavy pole. Look it up on Googly-toogle. It’s right scary looking lol.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No smutt in this chapter, so I don’t need to put the trigger warning up for a change. Unfortunately there is more to life than smutt…. Yes I know, it’s terrible. How could I do this to you…. I’m sure you’ll still enjoy it though.  And of course you’ll review at the end because it’s nice and easy to do and you know that it does keep me writing – even if I don’t update for a while – and that constructive criticism like what I receive from my non-official beta/soundboard/gap-finder Wockerjabi is always welcome and even begged for at this stage. Thanks once again to Wockerjabi for her contribution to even more detailed back story and plot developing assistance. My official beta AthenaSophia85 is currently very busy with her own real life so understandably is dealing with that first at the moment, but still many thanks go out to her for her assistance. Go check out her story A Song For Heart And Soul. It’s amazing and makes me feel so inadequate…. Lol. Anyway, enjoy. :D

"You'll have to do it yourself, lass; I can't show you this one. My knees won't stand for it."  
Sky suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and groan.  
Balin had arrived late that morning; it was noon now and his lessons in the behaviour required of her outside her chambers didn't seem to be anywhere near finished.

Already they had covered sitting in a chair, which Balin had informed her she would not be doing very much of, as most dwarves were of the opinion that allowing a slave to be seated on an equal level with their masters may give them ‘ideas.’ Then they had moved on to standing and walking.  
Balin had deemed her stride confident “to the point of unseemly arrogance and insubordination,” so she had been forced to practice a bearing more sufficiently meek. Nearly a half hour later, he had still not been satisfied with her work.  
"Take smaller steps," he had chided, then, "Slower, for Mahal's sake! You will scarcely be going anywhere, so whatever is the point of rushing?"  
That last comment, though not intentionally insulting, had given her the almost irresistible urge to tangle her fingers in that long, bushy white beard of his and yank….  
Now he was trying to teach Sky the bow expected of her when she was “fortunate” enough to be in the presence of the royal family and distinguished lords of Erebor.  
“Would you kindly describe it for me again, Lord Balin?” She requested, voice tight with barely restrained frustration. He was currently attempting instruction verbally; she found this difficult as her brain had never liked nor excelled in translating words into visual images in her mind, which she could then emulate correctly.

Balin took a deep breath and let it out steadily before speaking.  
“We’ll try a different way. Do you know how to squat, Sky?”  
She nodded and he made a ‘well go on’ gesture with one hand. She pressed her lips together in annoyance as she did as he asked.  
“Good, good. Now, slide your left foot out so it’s flat on the floor, but keep the other one on the ball turned slightly outwards as it is.”  
Well, it wasn’t too bad. Her martial arts training seemed to be making it easier to hold the bow. But her taskmaster wasn’t done with her yet.  
“You are doing well. Squeeze your thighs together as much as possible without over-bala– Oh, dearie me…. Try again.”  
After a few vexing mishaps she managed it, only to find there was still more to it.

Balin was hiding a little smile in his beard as he told her to fold her left hand over her right, tuck them into her belly whilst keeping her elbows close to her sides – if not against them – and bow her head.  
She followed the instructions, then stood as the knee which was folded back on itself over her right foot began protesting its inadequately supported position.  
“Ah, ah,” Balin pointed to the floor with a frown, “No rising until given permission to do so. If the royal or noble you are giving obeisance to does not tell you to rise for another _hour_ , you must simply stay in that position for that entire hour, or even longer, unless otherwise commanded.”  
“But –”  
“Lass.”  
The old dwarf’s voice was stern, but not unkind, as was his facial expression. She waited, having a good idea of what was to come. When he was sure he had her attention, Balin continued.  
“If I were Thorin, would you dare to protest for a single moment any instruction I gave you?”  
Sky felt her body tense up at the mention of the King. She shook her head.  
“For your own sake lassie, pretend I am someone other than myself. Someone not so tolerant. Practice diligently when with me, to avoid making mistakes in a less forgiving environment.”  
She nodded, then caught herself, “Yes, my lord.”  
“Better. Remember this is for your own good, Sky. Thorin needs little excuse to deal out harsh, painful punishments I would not wish on my worst enemy. Avoid giving him a reason to do those things to you.” Balin gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and she glanced up at him in surprise. His eyes were sympathetic and a sadness seemed to linger behind them. Something darker too. She fancied she was staring into the eyes of one who had seen horrors beyond imagining.

“Avert your gaze. I did not order you to look at me.” His demeanour was suddenly stern again, but not cold, she realised, as she did as he said.  
For the rest of the lesson, which involved who was who in the hierarchy of Erebor and the different behaviour – though always respectful – required from her toward each variant of rank, Sky tried harder to listen and perform for him better. He was only trying to help her, the least she could do was put more effort into it.

 

 

“Lord Balin, permission to ask a question?”  
She’d been practicing her walk again the next day whilst Balin took a break from their lessons and smoked his pipe out on the balcony, having acquired the keys to the grate from the door guards.  
“It’s ‘permission to speak,’ lass, and avoid using a noble’s name unless otherwise instructed.” He continued staring down the gully, puffing smoke rings into the air every minute or so.  
“My lord, permission to speak?”  
“Granted.”  
“Why is your race at war with everyone and enslaving the survivors after victory?”

The old dwarf inhaled sharply and began coughing, leaning over the stone rail and pressing his gloved fist to his mouth. Sky swiftly fetched her mug and filled it with water from a jug she’d requested of Lasl after she’d found one day that there had only been wine to drink, carrying it over to him and proffering it with an apologetic smile.  
He took it and drank deeply, panting a little and giving it back with a nod of gratitude.  
Then his face became stern and he shook a finger at her as he gathered his thoughts before stuttering, “That’s…. not…. really a question you should be asking me, Sky. I.... I don’t make the decisions around here. I just advise the King on relations with other houses. I stay away from warfare where I can and keep my nose out of military decisions. As _you_ should in regards to all matters outside of pleasing the King. It’s not your place!”

Sky felt sorry for broaching a subject he clearly found uncomfortable, but she couldn’t let it slide. This was her one chance to find out what was going on. She’d hoped the rapport she felt was slowly building between Balin and herself would make him more inclined to answering her queries.  
He was currently tapping the burnt contents of his pipe out over the edge of the balcony, his movements rather agitated.  
“Lord Balin, I apologise for this in advance, but I need to know. I need to understand why this is happening to me. To others of my race. Why did the war start? Did they offer some kind of slight? What could they possibly have done to deserve this?”  
She was standing almost toe to toe with him now. They were the same height, some part of her mind absentmindedly noted. That was a welcome change. She was sick of her captors towering over her. Sick of whatever had shrunk her in height when she stepped into this world. Even Fili was an inch or so taller. She realised she had been gradually raising her voice as she spoke, and slowly closed her mouth, biting her lip.

Balin cleared his throat and made a subtle gesture to indicate her proximity to him was unacceptable, so she grudgingly took a step back.  
“Lass…. This conflict has made enemies of all races non-Khazad.” His tone was soft and held a note of weariness and pain which made her wonder again what he had seen and been forced to do at his monarch’s command. “It has been raging for many decades. It began with Thror, grandfather to Thorin, who had been going mad for quite some time. Everyone could see it, yet none had the nerve to point it out. One day, something finally snapped inside the King, and he waged war on all those not of the dwarven race. Trade between Erebor and the city of Dale had been flourishing at the time, and no serious problems had ever arisen between us before two incidents that shook our people to their cores, buried our hearts in grief, and hardened them with rage. The Men of Dale were completely unprepared for an attack and were at our mercy within a day. It was clear to myself and possibly several others that Thror had developed a taste for blood and cruelty the like of which had not been seen outside of orc packs. And perhaps in the behaviour of some Men.” Balin’s lip curled slightly in disgust, his eyes staring at nothing as he recounted the tale. “He grew overly confident however and after a few decades began to lose more battles than he won, his increasing insanity marring his judgement. That was when Thorin stepped in. He was still in his prime, skilled, cunning and, most of all, inspiring. The warriors of Erebor looked up to him, hailing him as the reincarnation of Durin himself, the one who had been prophesised to lead our kind into supremacy. Our kin from the Iron Hills, the Grey Mountains and Khazad-Dum soon also rallied under Erebor’s banner. Few could oppose us.  
Only a decade or so after the birth of Prince Kili, most of the royal line were ruthlessly assassinated. Thorin and the two young princes were the only members of the family to escape death. Even Princess Dis was slain, and so soon after the boys’ father had been taken from them.”

Balin’s brow was heavily lined with sadness as spoke.  
“It would seem that our opponents were growing desperate, and had hoped to defeat us by removing our head. But despite our losses, we continued to prevail. Thorin took Fili as his heir and trained both princes in the skills required of them to serve their people.  
The King has had many consorts. Only a few survived beyond their first few months here, though they still died once their usefulness had ended. So many of them simply gave up, and Thorin became bored with them.”  
The old dwarf grasped her shoulder suddenly, and she startled, her body instinctively tensing in expectation of a blow.  
But he didn’t strike her, merely looked her in the eyes and said, in an almost pleading tone, “Whatever you do, lass, do not let the King tire of you! Do all you can to please him; search for new tricks and techniques to keep him interested in bed.”

He let her arm go and picked up his pipe, slipping it into the folds of his robe before turning back to her, his kindly face grim.  
“It may end up being the only thing that keeps you alive.”

 

 

Sky paced the floor of her chambers restlessly. Balin’s terrifying warning the day before and his recounts of the war’s beginnings had kept her awake most of the night.  
To top it all off, this was the day Balin would decide if she was ready to be let loose in Erebor.  
This was the day she would finally be released from her glorified prison cell.  
For the umpteenth time that morning, Sky wished the dwarves had invented clocks. Or if they had already, that they had bothered putting one in her rooms. The sun had already risen and still he wasn’t here.

“Where _are_ you, Santa Claus,” she growled as she turned to cross to the door once again. “Where are your reindeer when you need them?”  
He did look a lot like the jolly, white bearded man of legend. He even wore red clothing most days. In fact, she mused as she finally flopped down on the divan for a rest, she couldn’t remember having ever seen him in any other colour. She almost laughed at herself. Here she was, about to be released after an entire month of incarceration whilst being forced to watch herself be used by previously fictional characters, and all she could do was think about Balin’s attire. And she was certainly one to talk; all her dresses were similar gold or saffron shades, lacking any sort of adornment but rather beautiful in spite of it. She felt even plainer than ever in them. If she’d hoped that would put Thorin or Kili off, however, she’d have been sorely disappointed.  
She tugged at the leather collar of the new dress Lasl had brought her to replace the one Kili had destroyed, wishing she could loosen it even a little. Perhaps she could find a way to make another hole in the strap….

The sound of the bolt sliding back had her springing immediately to her feet, a flutter of excitement curling within her which she tried desperately to keep in check. She couldn’t afford to forget Balin’s training, thereby losing his vote of confidence, the only thing now between her and a consistently unbolted door. She could do it.  
Balin entered, holding a box under his arm.  
She took a deep breath and tried to look as demure as possible. Damn those dwarves and their oppressive rules….  
Balin cleared his throat and she quickly cast her eyes down and dropped into the bow for nobles and royals, praying he would let the delay this time pass.

“Good morning, Sky.” He placed the box on the sideboard and unfastened the catches on it.  
“Good morning, my lord.” She was fit to burst. What was taking so long?  
He turned back to face her, holding what seemed to be a gold cuff in one hand and a tiny padlock and key in the other.  
“This is your _Thandmesem_. It is a symbol of your status as royal consort and shows others you belong to the King. You are to wear it at all times unless you need to remove it for bathing or His Majesty orders differently. The key will be kept in the King’s chambers, to be retrieved by your maid with permission of the King. Punishment will be swiftly meted out to both yourself and your maid should you violate these rules.” Balin’s voice was flat, as though speaking words he had recited many times.  
“Rise and hold out your right arm.”

Sky obeyed, shivering slightly as the cool metal made contact with her skin. The cuff was made up of two pieces, both parts hinged on one side, and each with loops on the other which interlocked as the old dwarf brought the halves together around her upper arm. He then slipped the little padlock through the loops and closed it with a soft, yet eerily final click. It was tight, too tight, like the collar around her neck. Before she could say anything however, Balin was speaking again and holding out another item.

A veil.

She bit her tongue firmly to keep from protesting. He had already briefed her the day before on the importance of keeping her face covered. She belonged to Thorin and only he had the right to decide who may see her, though apparently her bare arms and feet didn’t count. She had rolled her eyes at this and Balin looked inclined to agree with her, but had instead continued on with a list of the things she was expected to do at banquets or general dinners were she ‘honoured’ enough to be invited.

The head piece consisted of a thin, but sturdy chain made of gold links, around which had been sewn several pieces of gauzy cloth a similar colour to the fabrics her dresses were made from. He handed it to her and she reluctantly placed the chain on the crown of her head, feeling it settle around her brow as she arranged the folds over her face and around her neck. Her vision wasn’t as badly impaired as she had thought it would be, yet she was already wishing she could just take it off and never have to wear it again. Balin was nodding approvingly though, and she was not going to ruin her chance to leave her hell hole, even if it was only for a few hours.

“Well done, lass. You will be alright I think. Just remember the walking, bowing and correct forms of address and everything will go smoothly. If you need to do more and you are less than confident you will remember the protocol, never hesitate to request my assistance. You will be alright.” He was beginning to sound as though he were trying to convince himself as well as Sky. She felt the sudden urge to throw her arms around him and squeeze. And tug that bushy beard, but this time it would be with affection instead of vengeance. She kept her hands firmly pressed to her sides however, holding herself in check. Perhaps she could find a way to thank him later. She had grown just a little bit fond of him, she realised, as he nodded once in a sort of absentminded manner and left the room again.

She was alone, and the door was open. The guard stood with his back facing her, off to one side so that the green marbled corridor stretched before her, seeming impossibly long. Her stomach twinged and she swallowed. She should be taking her first steps of semi-freedom right now. Why couldn’t she move?  
She took a look around the place that had been her prison for the past month. Suddenly it seemed inviting and safe. _‘That’s ridiculous,’_ she told herself firmly, _‘You’ve just been here too long….’_  
She sat on the divan. She stood up again and moved toward the door. She sat in front of the fireplace, then grew restless and went to stare out the grate for a while.

“This is insane,” she muttered, and resolutely rose, turning back to the opening in the wall. And that long, long hallway….  
Finally she grew tired of just staring and retrieved one of the blindfolds from her bedchambers, tying it firmly around her eyes before carefully using her sweeping foot trick to guide her toward and out the door. She could feel the guard’s eyes following her down the passage, but she didn’t care. He couldn’t stop her unless she did something wrong and she was just walking….  
She remembered she was still sweeping as she couldn’t see, so she removed the blindfold and focused on the little steps Balin had taught her. She turned and looked back to where the guard had closed the door to her chambers and felt panic surge up inside her, but managed to keep herself from racing back. She had come this far. She could continue. And hopefully this feeling would wear off soon.

She spent what felt like hours exploring the corridor, stopping whenever she saw Kili’s door and turning to go back the way she had come, before repeating the process.  
Eventually she decided it would be best to take it slowly and returned to her chambers, where she took a nice long bath, attempting to twist and adjust the cuff every now and then as it was still rather uncomfortable.

 

 

The next day was much like the one before, only this time she managed to push past the younger prince’s chambers and got all the way to Fili’s before she stopped and fidgeted a little under the scrutiny of the armoured duo posted at his door. Now she had a dilemma. She didn’t want to pass Kili’s door again but going anywhere near Thorin’s ‘territory’ was absolutely non-negotiable. She felt trapped and breathed deeply to calm herself down. They were irrational fears and entirely the most unproductive ideas she had ever foolishly indulged herself in believing. She held her head high, steeled her nerves and stalked back past the single door with all its elaborate carvings.

Fuck those carvings.

She turned and glared long and hard at them. The guard turned to glare right back at her. Her immediate response was to think of all the different ways she could take him down unarmed, in a dress.

Barefoot.

She didn’t like her odds. If he were a Man it would have been plausible. But dwarves were built like the rocks they were rumoured to be born from. She had found it difficult enough to defeat an armoured dwarf with a sword when he had gotten too close too quickly for her to shoot. And it made sense that those dwarves chosen to protect the royal family would be far more skilled than the rank and file soldier she’d faced. It didn’t matter, she decided, as he’d made no move to attack her anyway. His constant staring was a little unnerving though.

She turned on her heel and remembered just in time to shift into the consort walk, instead of the defiant stride she’d intended to use to show the guard he didn’t scare her. Which was bullshit, because he did, but he didn’t need to know that and the walk required of her wasn’t helping.  
She made a rough sketch in her notebook detailing her attacking Kili’s door with a chainsaw and felt a little better. Then spent the next hour pondering what exactly those carvings had done to deserve her wrath. She couldn’t find a feasible answer and instead came up with the conclusion she was ever so slightly losing it.

It was time to try for safe passage through Thorin’s domain.

Tomorrow.

 

 

She was beginning to wish Thorin’s doors had carvings on them. The solid gold and gems embedded in geometric patterns clearly of dwarvish design were far more intimidating than the wooden hunting scenes all over Kili’s. Or was it simply because the dwarf king himself could come sweeping through them at any moment? Pick on some little mistake she might make and punish her for it? Cerulean gaze glinting in satisfaction at the sound of her pain?

Sky opted for the blindfold again. Really, if she thought about it he would most likely be out at this time of the day, doing whatever evil kings did in this nightmare world.

Finally, she was free of the royal apartments and soon found herself going down several flights of stairs wide enough to fit at least half a dozen dwarves standing shoulder to shoulder. There was in fact a group of them coming toward her now, speaking to each other in their gruff, gravelly tones with the occasional hand sign thrown in for good measure. She recognised them as nobles and crouched awkwardly on the stairs, shooting out a hand to grasp the railing when she almost toppled over. They carried on as if she wasn’t even there. That was a relief. She waited until they were out of sight, deciding that was as good as verbal permission to rise, and continued down the staircase.

The passage she entered at the bottom was much wider than those she had left, and was lined with runes and bas-reliefs depicting battles with a sprinkling of unidentifiable scenes she assumed were ceremonies of some kind. A few looked like coronations and funerals.  
She reached a t-intersection and took the right fork, stopping when she realised it ended in two gigantic oak doors stretching many feet to reach the high ceiling. It was unguarded.  
Surely just a quick peek to see what was inside couldn’t hurt. Sky tugged on one of the large brass wings and, with some effort, achieved a gap wide enough to slip through.  
She found herself in what was unmistakeably a library. Hundreds of bookshelves lined up and trailed off into dimmer parts of the gigantic room. A large desk was set close by the door she had entered through, and she could just make out a mop of short – for a dwarf – mousy brown hair slightly buried under a few loose papers which seemed to have toppled off a nearby pile. Cautiously, she tip-toed over to get a better look.

And was pleasantly surprised to see the sweet face of a dwarf who could only be Ori, fast asleep, draped across a large open book and clutching a quill in one limp hand.  
She grinned, but her face fell again when Balin’s teachings about off-limits places in the upper levels sprang unbidden into her mind.  
The King’s library was forbidden to all but the royal family. That was what Balin had said. This was a library on the upper levels. It had to be the King’s library.

Curiosity warred with fear of discovery.

Her heart was beating rapidly and her stomach was doing its best to twist itself into some complicated sailor’s knot by the feel of it.  
But she had never been able to resist the call of books. She took in a deep breath, letting the scent of old paper, dust and mildew drift into her nostrils. Before she knew it, her feet were taking her of their own accord to the nearest shelf.

The veil was beginning to feel rather stifling, so she took it off and tucked it under her arm. She was already doing something she had been forbidden to do, why not just remove the damn thing to boot.  
Sky ran her fingers over the worn leather spines reverently, almost afraid to pull one out. When she did, she groaned in frustration and put the tome back. It was in Khuzdul. She wondered if they had any books in English - Westron, they called it here - and was about to go ask the little librarian when she realised he would report her for sure, and she would be stuck in those chambers again for as long as Thorin saw fit.

She paused to calculate whether lifting a few books was worth it or not.  
Her addiction to the written word won out; she set off on her own to find the Westron section. They must have one, surely....  
She was just about to exit one aisle and move to the next when she heard and saw the library doors swing open, and an imposing figure stride in.

_'Thorin!'_

She darted back between the shelves, peering slightly around the corner to see where the King was.  
He had reached over the sturdy oaken desk and was currently in the act of shoving the hapless librarian off his seat and onto the cool stone floor below.  
Thorin growled something in their tongue and it was whilst Ori stuttered his apologies that Sky took the opportunity to slip around bookshelves towards the doors in an effort to get close enough to escape as soon as Thorin moved away.  
And move he did.

Straight toward her.

Sky turned and bolted as silently as she could, her heart pounding in her ears and blood pumping through her veins at an alarming rate. She turned a few corners as she ran deeper into the library. The only thought in her mind was hide. If she could just avoid him seeing her long enough, she may yet be able to get away with this.  
She stopped and looked over her shoulder for a moment to listen for any sounds of pursuit. There were none. She sighed in relief and rounded another corner, only to collide with a person standing facing the shelves in the next aisle. Sky stumbled backwards in fright, tripped on her skirts and fell on her backside, whilst the other cursed as the pile of books they'd been holding toppled to the ground. Sky's apology died in her throat as she looked up into the annoyed and slightly confused blue eyes of the Crown Prince.

"What are you doing here?!" Fili hissed, regaining his composure quickly and bending to retrieve the fallen tomes.  
"I-I...."  
"Surely Balin informed you in your lessons about this place?!"  
She had been foolish. Now she would be re-confined, and surely refused any request she might make later for reading material as extra punishment. She couldn’t go back to that place, her cage, to spend her days pacing the floor and fighting down the primitive urge to scream and throw herself at the walls holding her in like a crazed chimpanzee in a laboratory.  
Sky could only nod helplessly, a lump forming rapidly in her throat, fighting back tears.  
A thought seemed to occur to Fili then.

"You read?"

He was looking at her as though this was an unusual thing for consorts to be able to do. Perhaps it was. Those of the class the dwarves must assume she was from most likely didn't bother to learn.... If the opportunity was even available to them. She would be an oddity indeed were that true of her. As it was, her only option was to dip her head quickly in affirmation before pulling herself to her feet, despair dragging her down inside even as she attempted to lift her body upwards.

"If Thorin catches you—"  
"I know, I know. I just couldn't...." She trailed off as she noticed he was staring at her with raised eyebrows. She had failed to bow, risen without his permission _and_  cut him off, she realised, horror, fear, frustration and apprehension coiling in her gut.

Before she could make amends however, heavy footsteps sounded out from behind her, and a deep, commanding voice she knew all too well resonated and swelled all around them.

"What do you think you are doing in here?! This library is reserved for the use of myself and a select few! How dare you disobey me?!" Sky felt the blood drain from her face; she gritted her teeth and tried to stop herself running away like a frightened jackrabbit. It would do her no good now.  
Instead she sank into the crouch-like bow Balin had spent so much time teaching her only a week earlier, the hands clasped tightly against her belly shaking uncontrollably as she waited for the King's judgement upon her.  
“Barely a few days have passed and you have already broken a rule.” He sounded just a little bit too pleased with this fact; Sky clenched her hands into fists to stop the quaking, though it was largely ineffectual.

“Return to your chambers.” He was almost purring now, “And stay there. I’ll deal with you later.” She dipped her head low then rose to leave. Fili’s voice and a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks.

“Wait a moment. _I_ gave her permission.”

Sky had never seen anyone lie as well as Fili did. His face remained impassive; not a flicker of the eyes nor the twitch of a facial muscle gave him away. He did, however, pull away from her after she stopped as though he’d been burnt, dropping his arm to his side.  
Thorin held his gaze for what seemed like hours, searching for any sign that the younger dwarf was being less than honest with him. To his chagrin, he found none.

“All applications are to be presented to me before granting another access. You know this well.” His voice dropped to a warning rumble; Fili’s eyes finally fell from the King’s.  
“Forgive me, Sire. I made an error in judgement.”  
His head was bowed, but his shoulders were back and his overall posture perfectly straight. Even in subjugation, the golden-haired warrior presented an air of confidence and nobility. It was almost defiant, in a way.

Defiant submission.

Sky had no idea how he did it, but it was the only thing she could call what he was doing now.  
“Indeed you did.” Thorin’s voice had an all too familiar edge to it; one that promised disciplinary action in the near future. Sky was guiltily thankful she was no longer on the receiving end. Fili’s lips tightened noticeably, but it was the only outward sign he made to show any kind of distress.  
“I was not aware you were literate. Where and from whom did you learn?”  
Sky jolted as she realised Thorin was addressing her now, and cleared her throat nervously before responding.  
“I’m u-unsure, y-your Majesty. I a-assume from my p-parents, but even t-that part of my life is v-vague in my memory.”

He hummed as he considered the reply; luckily it seemed her answer wasn’t important enough for him to pursue. Instead he turned back to Fili, addressing him even as he was speaking to her.  
“As my nephew has taken it upon himself to allow you into our _private collection_ –” The King stressed the words 'private collection' with a glare at his sister son, who wisely said nothing, “ _He_ shall be responsible for everything you do whilst in these spaces and any items you decide to take with you back to your chambers. If anything is damaged or lost, _he_ will answer for it. Is that understood?”  
“Yes, your Majesty.”  
“Yes, Sire.”  
They answered simultaneously, heads bowed and tones respectful.  
“Come to my chambers this evening, Fili. I wish to discuss some important matters with you.”  
“Yes, Sire.”  
Had Fili’s voice come close to breaking? Surely not. Once again his face was expressionless. Perhaps she had imagined it.

Thorin released a short grunt then turned on his heel, disappearing down one of the aisles. Consort and prince stood there in silence for several moments.  
Sky looked up and immediately wished she hadn’t. Fili was glowering at her, his jaw clenched tightly as he picked up the last few books on the floor and stacked them atop the others which he had set down upon the arrival of his uncle. The narrow passage they were in was cold, the atmosphere tense. Sky swallowed and was about to speak, but was cut off.

“Kindly refrain from opening your mouth again. You have done quite enough already.” He let out an exasperated sigh, running his hand over his face as he stood and returned to scrutinising the names of the books on the shelf in front of him. She bit her lip and twisted her arms behind her back, unsure of what to do next. She was eternally grateful to him for stepping in like that, but clearly there would be consequences for him now instead, and part of her felt terrible, considering the things she had suffered at Thorin’s hand in the past. Even his non-sexual punishments couldn’t be pleasant.  
“I’m sorry,” she finally blurted out.  
“I seem to remember I forbade you from speaking.” His tone was sharp and she flinched. “You have already erred once today. I do believe it to be in your best interests that you do not make the same mistake twice.”

Silence fell once more.

Sky took a few steps toward the direction of the library door, then looked back to where Fili stood with a large, thick volume open, balanced precariously along one hand and its adjoining elbow, running his finger over the pages with a slight frown creasing his brow. She realised she'd been staring at him when he raised his head to shoot her an annoyed glance.  
Before she could stop herself she was talking again.  
"I just need to say thank you." He had made to give her another sharp reprimand but stopped, the lines on his forehead deepening as he considered her words, as though they were almost entirely foreign to him.  
"You didn't have to do that." She continued, finding that she couldn't hold his gaze anymore and dropping hers to the floor, fiddling nervously with her skirts.

There was a sharp exhale not unlike a stifled snort, and when she looked up at him he was smirking, though it didn't reach his eyes.  
"No. I did not."  
There was a long pause whilst Sky tried to decide what to do or say next, then Fili made the choice for her.  
"Leave." His voice was stern and she winced at the bitterness lacing it. "Before I begin to regret my actions. And put your veil back on; you are very lucky Thorin did not punish you for that."  
She sighed and turned to go, donning the veil and muttering another "I'm sorry", though she doubted he'd heard it.  
Even if he had, he probably wouldn't have cared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and Review please. :D   
> Skywolf, over and out.
> 
>  
> 
> Khuzdul Translation:
> 
> Thandmesem – bracelet; singular form
> 
> Much gratitude to Dwarrowscholar (not a Fanfiction pen name by the way; look them up on the general internet) who spent so much time putting together an actual English-Khuzdul DICTIONARY, which is what I used here.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trigger Warnings: Violence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Just shooting off this chapter to you before I disappear for the weekend. I’m not going to have my laptop and wanted to give you a holiday present before I left. I will however still have my phone and internet so reviews will be welcomed ecstatically. Sorry about the shortness; once again for a particular effect I needed to end it there. I do however know what I’m doing for the bits following so hopefully I can get another chapter typed up and updated sometime next week alongside my catchup for Uni studies (I still haven’t started my assignment for my Pre-Baroque Music studies and it’s already the end of week 5 :/ !!) I may go back and edit it again later if I think it needs it, or you think it needs it (which you will of course have told me through those wonderfully useful reviews…. Or through PM if you’re feeling shy about giving me constructive criticism publically). I hope you enjoy it (and don’t hate me, lol. If you don’t like the way the story is going, blame Kili-muse. It’s ALL his fault….). Anyway, thank you very much. I need to mosey off now. I’m going to Confest in NSW (Australia). It’s going to be a blast!! See you all, stay safe and enjoy your holidays if you’re having them.

Sky shifted uncomfortably on her cushion, trying not to make enough movement that she caught Thorin’s attention, which was currently on the dwarf speaking at the base of a short staircase leading up to the throne.  
Once Balin had reported her to be suitably trained for the public – and despite the library incident a few days before – Thorin had decided she would be present for the court hearings whenever he saw fit to summon her. She sat between and slightly behind Thorin and Kili, the latter of whom seemed to be almost as bored and restless as she was, though he had better control over it. Now and again Thorin would murmur something to him and he would try to sit up straighter and appear regal, but even then he had nothing on his uncle or brother, who both looked like they had been born on their thrones. Fili was seated to the right of the King, showing just the right balance of interest and detachment simultaneously, though in reality he had to be as bored as Sky and Kili were. She had done her best not to stare when she had seen him as they’d gathered to enter, but it was very difficult. The teal shirt and burgundy tunic over his dark pants and polished boots brought out the colour of his eyes and hair, which was braided meticulously at the front, the rest pulled back from his face by a silver clasp engraved with lines of runes. Every braid was capped with a smaller clasp also in silver and she again had to pull her gaze away from the lips between the short braids either side of them. Around his brow he wore a thin coronet.  
And she wasn’t the only one having to fight to keep her focus elsewhere. Several of the nobles lining the edges of the throne room often cast furtive glances at the Crown Prince, though he ignored them all and continued listening to the cases put to the royals, answering whenever Thorin waved the plea or query over to him. His tone was always soft and patient, yet somehow his words were still distinct and resonated just as clearly as Thorin’s gruffer replies. The dwarves presenting themselves in court visibly relaxed whenever Fili engaged them in the King’s stead.

Thorin never gave Kili an opportunity to take on any of the issues put to them, but he seemed happy enough to just sit there, gaze panning the room often. Sky wondered what he was looking for as, though he was clearly jaded, his eyes were not idle. They didn’t just sweep lazily over the people in the gigantic hall, the way Thorin’s sometimes did; they scanned carefully and continuously. Curiously, he was the only one on the dais noticeably armed, aside from a few guards stationed around them, among whom Sky recognised Dwalin and, to her surprise, a dwarf who looked a lot like Gloin, though she couldn’t tell for certain as most of his head and much of his face were hidden beneath his helmet. Kili’s sword leant against the side of his seat; occasionally his hand would drift down and grip the hilt, sliding it up and down slightly to loosen the blade in its scabbard.  
Surely no one would attack them here?

Sky had thought the guards a formality before she had seen Kili’s state of readiness.

Erebor was a fortress. Kili had said so. The possibility of even a highly trained killer getting in, let alone out afterwards…. But then, Balin had recounted briefly the assassinations of so many members of the Durin House, including the princes’ mother. It would still be fresh in their minds, she supposed.

Now and again Thorin’s large gauntleted hand would lay itself on her head and stroke it gently; the touch made her feel calmer in some ways yet repulsed and indignant at the same time. She was not a dog!

They took a break after a few hours and Thorin clicked his fingers once at her in a signal to follow him. She gritted her teeth, but rose carefully so as to not trip on her dress and trailed in his wake, head bowed and taking small steps, suppressing several groans as the pins and needles began to set in mercilessly. They entered an antechamber wherein some servants had prepared refreshments and placed them on the table. Thorin sat at the head and allowed one of them to serve him some carved meat and a goblet of wine. Fili and Kili took their places and began to eat.  
Sky stood awkwardly for a moment, frantically searching her suddenly blank mind for Balin’s lessons on her conduct when in a dining situation. Luckily, her tutor was standing nearby conversing with Dwalin, and when he looked her way she opened and closed her fists in the ‘help me’ gesture he’d taught her for when he wasn’t able to see her face. He flicked his eyes quickly between her and another cushion to the side of Thorin’s chair, flattening one palm and pushing down toward the ground to tell her to sit on it. She obeyed quickly and hoped Thorin was too engrossed in his food to notice the moment, though it had stretched out painfully long for her and surely he couldn’t possibly have missed it.

She waited apprehensively for some form of comment or punishment, but none seemed forthcoming and after a few minutes she allowed herself to relax just a bit. Her eyes drifted to a pair of boots under the table down aways from where she sat, noting with interest the pommel of a knife sticking out partially over the fold and tucked tightly against the calf. Within moments, now that she was looking for them, she spotted one in the other boot too. It seemed the Fili in this twisted universe still had some things in common with the Fili she had grown used to on screen.  
A low whistle penetrated her thoughts and she looked up at Kili a metre or so down from her and stared in bewilderment at the chunk of meat he was offering her.  
“Here,” he called, and she could hear the smirk in it even though his face wasn’t in her line of vision. She felt like snatching the titbit and shoving it up his nostril but then Thorin gave her a nudge and murmured, “Go on.” Her face burning, Sky made to stand and walk over to the grinning moron but a heavy weight on one shoulder forced her back down again.  
“You were not given permission to rise. Crawl.”  
Tears of humiliation began to creep from under her eyelids as she shuffled toward Kili as best she could whilst in the dress. When she finally got to him, she reached up to take the food but her hand passed through empty air as he pulled it back, tut-tutting at her.  
“With your mouth.”  
Thorin chuckled at this and Sky fought not to follow up on her previous thoughts, the tears spilling faster now over her cheeks. She was trying not to sob and for once she was grateful for the fabric covering her face. At least she wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing how much this was affecting her….  
“Kili!”  
Fili’s voice was reproachful; Sky peered up through the veil to see Kili turning to look at his brother with the air of a scolded puppy. A short line of Khuzdul came from Fili’s end of the table and Sky watched the meat being fiddled with between two of the younger prince’s fingers. Thorin cut off the lecture with a sharp command and Fili fell silent. Kili held the meat out to her again and she made to lift the veil to take it from him with her teeth, but his hand grasped her wrist and turned her palm over into which he placed the morsel, before turning quietly back to his food.  
“Return to me.” Thorin tapped the leg of the table near him and Sky obeyed, re-seating herself on the cushion, chewing on the meat. It was probably good, but she couldn’t taste it. The rest of the meal went quickly; Thorin cut off bits and placed them on a small plate in front of her on the floor. Sky ate despite not feeling like it; she might be hungry later and she wouldn’t be allowed to leave until Thorin did, or dismissed her.

They returned to the throne room and Sky knelt beside Thorin’s throne again. Her eyelids were heavy and she would have loved nothing more than to lie down right there on the cold marble and just sleep…. She sensed her head nodding and snapped herself awake. There was a soft laugh next to her and she shot Kili a glare, forgetting he wouldn’t be able to see it. He shook his head and turned his attention back to the floor below.

An hour or so later, there was a disturbance at the back of the room. The courtiers standing there moved out of the way quickly to allow a small group of heavily armoured guards through, dragging along with them two tall figures.

Men.

Sky sat up straighter, feeling a twinge of dread in her gut. As they drew nearer, her heart plummeted at the sight of her two former comrades, the Withered Heath archers Thorin had released back in Dale.  
Or had he?  
Anger began to boil inside her, building quickly when their poor physical conditions became clearer as they were moved closer to the thrones.  
Thorin addressed the group in Khuzdul; one of the guards stepped forward and bowed before answering in a toneless, bored voice which sounded almost rehearsed. The older Man seemed broken and went easily when made to kneel before the King. But the younger of the two spat and growled and fought, tugging at his restraints and trying to lash out with his feet and head at the dwarfs surrounding him and attempting to force him to the ground. Kili was sitting on the edge of his seat, hand resting casually on the hilt of his sword, yet his face was neutral, bored even. The excitement and readiness radiating from the rest of his body language however, told a different story.

In the confusion the ropes holding the young Heath man fell to the floor, worn through most likely by persistent rubbing of them against some rough object then snapped in the struggle. He drew a sword from the guard he had successfully knocked to the ground and without warning ran straight toward Sky, eyes full of murderous intent. Sky fell backward and scrambled to her feet, brain frantically registering her surroundings, the threat and possible weapons she could use to distract her opponent. Her eyes landed on the cushion and she picked it up, intending to throw it into his face and possibly take advantage of the ensuing disorientation….

Only to see that Kili had risen to meet the attacker, sword zinging free of its scabbard and leaping out to intercept the blade that had somehow already been descending toward her head. Re-directing his opponent’s weapon to one side, Kili pulled free of the lock and shot out an onside slash aimed at the Man’s belly. The Man leapt away and stumbled on the stairs, turning the fall gracefully into a recovery roll and springing to his feet at the bottom, flinging his guard up just in time to keep Kili’s overhead strike from potentially cutting him in two. Sky hadn’t even seen the dwarf prince move. Thorin, who had originally stood to defend himself – somehow – from the attacker, had returned to his throne and was watching the fight with interest. Fili had also risen from his position in response to the threat, and was now arguing with Dwalin who was attempting to escort him further away from the conflict; Sky caught the word _nadad_ a few times.

The Heath man had proven to be a better opponent than Sky had expected. Or was Kili toying with him? The dark haired dwarf didn’t appear to be exerting himself all that much, whilst the Man was beginning to sweat, his blows becoming clumsier with each passing minute. And that was another thing. Most fights lasted only a minute or so on average. Why was this one taking so long? The more Sky analysed their movements, the more she was convinced Kili was deliberately drawing it out. She squeezed the cushion in her hands, imagining hitting the cocky prince repeatedly in his stupid handsome face. If Kili had intended to kill him, surely the Heath archer would be dead by now? Sky begged him in her mind to leave her comrade be once he was done playing. The reason she was there, wearing a consort’s armband and veil, was all because of them. To save their lives, their futures. She had hoped they would head North and find their families, but clearly that had not happened.

Suddenly Kili was on the floor; Sky tore herself from her thoughts to watch apprehensively as the Man tried to use his superior size to his advantage, locking his sword with Kili’s and pressing all his weight down on it. Dwalin had physically restrained Fili now and was dragging him back behind the dais, ignoring the string of abuse in their tongue being flung at him. It was the first time Sky had seen Thorin’s heir lose his composure.  
Kili was pushing back against the blade descending slowly but surely toward his neck. Sky’s heart was in her throat and she had no idea why as her former comrade clearly had the upper hand and shouldn’t she be happy about that? A moment later the prince jerked sharply to one side, releasing but also redirecting the sharpened edge of his opponent’s sword to one side, biting back a cry of pain as it nicked his shoulder. The Man reeled back clutching his jaw where Kili had managed to follow up with a hard elbow into his nose.

Kili took the opening without a second thought, his sword making an almost inaudible soft squelching sound as it cut through muscle, organ and tissue as though they were butter.  
The room fell silent; Sky looked on with horror as the young Heath man stared in bewilderment at the blade buried almost to the hilt in his abdomen. His mouth opened but only a trickle of blood made it out. Kili pushed him away and allowed the corpse to slip off, the thud it made as it hit the floor loud in Sky’s ears.

Then her own body was moving; it felt like she was watching herself from afar. She rose and walked down the steps in a daze, focus riveted on the lifeless form of the young Man. Too young. Too young to die. Surely he couldn’t be dead. Not after all she’d done, for him and the others. The open wound in his belly seeping blood onto the stone beneath him in a pool growing at an alarming rate had to be her imagination. Those glazed, sightless eyes stared back at her accusingly.

She felt sick.

A deep voice raised in anger sounded out behind her, but she couldn’t make sense of the words. Just as she was on the last few dais stairs, a large hand encircled her arm and jerked her back roughly. Instinctively she whirled and flung her free hand out to strike her attacker. She felt a soft beard and a strong jaw beneath her fist, but the blow was a wild one and part of her knew it would do little to stop whoever had a hold on her. She heard a grunt and then an agonising pain lanced through her head, the side of her face flaring up. Then the room was spinning and she was falling, the steps digging sharply into her as she landed heavily and rolled down them.

The back of her skull struck the hard marble of the chamber floor, and everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don’t hate me! Oh and review please….
> 
> Khuzdul Translation:
> 
> Nadad – brother
> 
> Much gratitude to Dwarrowscholar (not a Fanfiction pen name by the way; look them up on the general internet) who spent so much time putting together an actual English-Khuzdul DICTIONARY, which is what I used here.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER – PUNISHMENT LEMON

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for the late update. Uni/life in general. My excuse. End of discussion. 
> 
> WARNING: This chapter not for those who are put off by 100% non-consensual painful rape scenes. For those who want to read my story but would prefer to steer clear of the particularly graphic things, just read until Thorin and Fili enter the room, then skip to the next line of D-D-D-Ds down the page. After that is some Fili/Sky fluff. The scene after that is probably bearable for most people. I’m sure you can make that decision on your own. Enjoy.
> 
> By the way, if the name Fred Astaire doesn’t mean anything to you, please look him up before reading any further. You may or may not get the joke at the beginning of the chapter here if you don’t. Basic information is that he was a world-famous dancer and an amazing one at that.

The first thing Sky became aware of was a slight bobbing sensation. There were sounds around her but they were muffled and far off; something against her side vibrated at random intervals. Her head felt light and floaty, though a slight distant pulse of pain occasionally made itself known.  
After a while she began to register she was being held in someone's arms and that they were walking and speaking to someone beside them.  
She didn't appear to be in any danger. Sky wondered why she felt she should be.... She couldn't remember. It didn't matter. She seemed safe enough for now.  
With that at least established in her groggy mind, she slowly drifted back to sleep.

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

Her head was pounding mercilessly. It felt like Fred Astaire had started up a tap-dance routine in her skull.... she could even hear the crowd roaring encouragement to him on all sides. Her stomach though, didn't seem to be enjoying the performance any more than she was. It churned and twisted incessantly, groaning and gargling and exuding signs of busting a full-blown tantrum. She didn't like tantrums; childish, useless, humiliating things in hindsight. She hated seeing children do it and she hated her stomach doing it ten times worse. It was an _adult_ stomach for Pete's sake! It was old enough to know better! A crack appeared in the darkness ahead of her, filling with a nasty bright light that should have known better too. Horrible, rude, highly inconsiderate.... The list turned into more colourful descriptions as the crack widened, flickered slightly, then widened further. A chilling, disembodied groan reverberated around the space she was in. She was only slightly worried however. She and Fred Astaire could take on anything in the blackness surrounding the steadily flickering, widening crack. One kick from those tap shoes and the night terror would be history.  
She should know.  
He was currently kicking _her_ with them, the immature bastard.  
A loud whoosh of air rushed through the cavern and the next moment she registered icy cold water drenching her, knocking her off her feet and sending her hurtling through the cavern opening into the yellow, painful light beyond....

She was in a room.  
On a bed.  
Sky blinked rapidly and squinted in the unnaturally bright light emanating from the torches in their sconces on the walls. The next thing she noticed was that her face was wet and the pillow her head laid on was thoroughly soaked. It was starting to feel rather uncomfortable.  
Slowly, her eyes began to focus and she made out the slim, entirely _non_ -dwarvish figure of another person standing beside her.  
She searched sluggishly for the name and finally found it.

Lasl.

The other woman was clutching a pitcher in her hands, which were shaking slightly.

“Miss?”

“Lasl…. Where am I?” Her mouth was fuzzy and her voice gave the impression of her being drunk. Her head was certainly beginning to pound like she had a hangover. She groaned again and pressed a hand to the back of her skull, then winced and pulled it away quickly.

“I wouldn’t do that, Miss. There’s a rather large cut on your head. Healer Oin stitched it up but he said it will still be tender for a while until it mends. You’re in your chambers. Lord Dwalin carried you here after your…. accident…. in the throne room.”

“Why did you throw water at me?” Sky tried to sound annoyed, but her tone insisted on staying rather flat and lifeless.  
Lasl busied herself placing the pitcher on a chiselled shelf in the wall before scurrying out of the room then back in holding Sky’s dress.  
“Forgive me, Miss. The King is coming to see you and he’s in a right temper. Lord Balin said he’d try to distract him as long as he can but that you needed to be awake for when his Majesty arrives as he’d only get angrier if he found you still unconscious. It was the only thing I could think of to bring you around.”

Alarm bells were going off in some part of Sky’s brain, but she couldn’t for the life of her figure out why.

“Was it something I did?”

Lasl shrugged, “The knowledge is not at me, Miss. I only know that Lord Dwalin brought you in here, your hair crusted in blood with Healer Oin following closely behind him. They patched you up and I cleaned your hair as best I could without dragging you proper like into the wash-room. And then Lord Balin came in to tell me what I’ve now already told you.”

The sound of raised voices drifted through the door to Sky’s bed chambers. They had to still be in the hallway outside, whoever they were.  
“Quickly, Miss!”  
Lasl grasped Sky by the arms and hauled her up, ignoring her pained groan and bunching the dress up to slip over the younger woman’s head. Sky sullenly raised her arms to assist, then gasped as Lasl pulled off the blankets and cold air hit her bare legs. The maid helped Sky up and tugged the rest of the fabric down to cover her lower half, then steered her out into the main reception area to sit her on the divan.

“Lord Balin suggested you be bowing when the King comes in, Miss. He said something about bowing and scraping being your only way of getting out of this intact. I’m really sorry I can’t do more for you. I must leave now, Miss.”  
Lasl bobbed a curtsey then darted out the door. Sky heard a sharp intake of breath and a soft ‘your Majesty’ followed by a pause in the loud conversation, then the light footsteps receded entirely.

Sky’s breath was coming in shallow gasps now and her brain still refused to remind her what it was she needed to fear. Balin’s advice was always to be heeded however, so she dropped into the consort crouch and bowed her head.  
She had no time to attempt to recollect what had happened in the throne room; the door swung open and Thorin strode in, his rage sweeping over her in waves long before the first strike made contact with her right cheek. The cool stone floor rushed up to meet her, but she never reached it. Her collar was gripped and hauled up again, then more pain flared across her face, worse than the last time.  
Thankfully the dwarf king dropped her after only a few more blows and turned to respond to someone else who had followed him in and was now speaking rapidly to him in their tongue. A crack rang throughout the room but oddly she didn’t feel it. Sky’s vision managed to clear enough to show her it was Fili who had been struck this time. He held a hand up to the reddening spot briefly but let it fall to his side again swiftly.

Thorin’s attention returned to Sky and she cowered beneath his furious gaze; her head was ringing and no matter what she did she couldn’t remember Balin’s advice for cooling him down. Bowing and scraping…. There had to be something else. She certainly wasn’t able to scrape any more than she already was. His fingers curled in her hair and pulled; Sky screamed as an agonising pain shot through her scalp, centring on the area of her cut. She hoped vaguely that the stitches weren’t pulling. Then she was on her feet, Thorin leading her roughly into her bedchambers.

She knew what was going to happen next. She tried her hardest not to struggle, despite every nerve in her body screaming at her to fight, to run. She could place her left foot in front of his right as they were walking and throw him using his momentum for extra effectiveness…. Follow up with a knee to his solar plexus, a side kick into his ribs…. She could snatch the pitcher from its shelf where Lasl had left it and bring it down full force on the knob where the top of his spine and the bottom disc of his neck met. No use hitting his head. Dwarves had denser, sturdier bone structures than Men and she was more likely to only make him angrier that way. The bottom of the pitcher was too thick to pinpoint the spot at the base of his skull where she would have more potential to actually kill him….  
No.  
The girls would die.  
The remaining Heath man would die.

The Heath men.

Her memories of the fight and subsequent slaying of the younger archer came rushing back to her just as Thorin shoved her down onto the bed. That terrible wound and those sightless eyes flashed through her mind.  
Thorin struck her again and she groaned, focusing her attention back on him. Apparently he had been speaking to her and she hadn’t heard him. She was just making it worse. Balin would be so disappointed in her….

Fili called out to Thorin and began talking again when he entered the room behind them, still in Khuzdul though it sounded like he was attempting to reason with his uncle this time, instead of the more challenging tone he had used earlier. An answering snarl shut him up and he turned away with a heavy sigh, running his hand over his face and making his moustache braids swing. Sky watched them fascinatedly, but quickly looked back at Thorin only to see he had followed her line of vision and was now eyeing both her and his eldest nephew contemplatively. A dark glimmer appeared in his eyes and a smirk twitched at the corners of his lips.

“I have a better idea.” He was speaking Westron now. Fili’s head snapped around, face expressionless as usual, but every line in his body tense.  
“Fili, my boy.” Thorin dropped a hand heavily on the younger dwarf’s shoulder in a clearly false demonstration of familial camaraderie. “You have not been taking nearly enough advantage of my generosity. Here we have a well-trained consort I have decided to share with you and your brother to ease the frustrations coming with your responsibilities, seeing as you handle them so aptly and have been so loyal to me all these years…. Yet you consistently refuse to enjoy my gift.”  
Fili’s mouth tightened but he kept silent.  
Thorin increased his grip until his knuckles went white and Sky bit her lip in sympathy for the pain the prince would be feeling, though his only response was to wince briefly before his courtly mask returned. An expression of annoyance flickered over the muscles in the King’s face, then he leaned in, speaking right into Fili’s ear, yet at a sufficient volume for Sky to also hear every word he was saying.

“I think it time you showed me some gratitude, _irakdashat_. Display for me to _see_ just how appreciative you are. I know how stressful it is to be next in line to the throne. Release some of that tension, eh?”  
He patted Fili rather too forcefully on the back, sending him stumbling forward into the edge of the mattress. The blonde dwarf’s hand shot out to catch himself on the nearest post to keep from falling.

“I’m waiting.”

Fili shot his uncle a look; Thorin raised an eyebrow at him expectantly. Fili expelled a breath through his nose, then turned to Sky with a resigned air.  
She averted her gaze quickly, hoping neither would notice she had been watching the entire exchange. A touch on her chin had her looking up again instinctively however, and she relaxed slightly as his hands began running over her lightly, removing her dress then laying her down properly and spreading her legs so he could position himself between them.

“No, no, no. This doesn’t seem right.”  
Thorin skirted the bed with a look of thoughtfulness. His muscles were tenser and his jaw clenched more firmly than his words merited.  
“I re-call there was a situation during a public hearing not a few hours ago…. A prisoner brought in for judgement escaped and attacked me. Then my whore took it upon herself to ignore all her training and disrespect me by not only ignoring my orders in leaving her place at my side, but in actually having the _nerve_ to throw a _punch_ at her king. And not only was that punch thrown, I – and many others I presume – remember the act being committed in front of the _entire_ _court_ ….”  
His eyes wandered lazily across to meet Sky’s. Her heart plummeted, her gut began twisting itself frantically in knots and her blood drained from her face as vague flashes of the scene Thorin had described returned at last to her memory.

The dwarf she lashed out at had been the King himself.

She felt faint. The fury in his gaze went beyond any anger she had ever seen from him. She had no idea what he was going to do other than it would be worse than anything she had yet experienced.  
Sky was beginning to wish Kili had let the Heath man slay her. It would have been less painful. Swift even.  
None of those things ever applied to Thorin’s punishments.

He was talking again, though whether to her, Fili or both Sky wasn’t sure.  
His eyes never left hers as he spoke.  
“Something is telling me gentle, considerate, _pleasurable_ treatment would be a smidgeon too lenient…. Eh, Fili?”

Fili shook his head and spoke softly, “I am sure the death of her countryman would have been shocking for her, Sire. I cannot say she was in any state of mind to possibly be doing those things with a clear head. Certainly none of it was inten– ”

Thorin snarled a single word Sky recognised from the incident in the antechamber during their break from court. Once again Fili gritted his teeth and fell silent. The King abandoned all pretence then. His voice dropped into a deep growl. “Take her. Hard. Teach her not to cross me again. Make her suffer. I want to be able to hear her screams from down the hall!”

Fili stood, jaw clamped and hands fisted at his sides.  
“You cannot ask that of me! She made a mistake; show her some mercy!”

Thorin chuckled, but it lacked any form of humour.  
“Mercy? What kind of soft, incompetent nonsense have you been reading lately, eh? Carry on like this and you may be deemed unfit to rule if your time ever comes. She’s a Woman! She is nothing! If you want an intimate bed partner who _deserves_ your devotion I can always marry you off to a suitable dwarrowdam of noble standing. Men are worthless. Rid your mind of these ideas before you make an absolute fool of yourself! You are an embarrassment to our line!”

There was a pause as the two dwarves stared each other down. Fili bowed his head with a sigh.

“Now,” Thorin’s voice was quiet, yet carried an irresistible power within it that crushed Sky’s remaining hope of any clemency from his quarter. “Discipline her as I instruct. If you do it well enough you may never have to again. She will have learnt her lesson and won’t dare disobey me in future…. Hopefully; for her sake.”  
Sky trembled in anxiety as they both waited on Thorin’s orders. The first came sooner than she would have liked; of course she would rather it hadn’t at all.  
“Give it to her from behind, in the other hole.”  
Fili made to get up, apparently to retrieve the vial of oil they used for such acts, but was stopped by Thorin’s next words, which caused Sky’s heart to quicken in fear as the full implications of what he was saying sank in.  
“No, stay on the bed. This is a punishment, remember? You will do it dry. _Bind_ her if necessary.”

Sky looked up at Fili. His eyes met hers and she saw regret there; then they deadened again. Fear clenched her stomach and the need to flee rose inside her. She was halfway off the bed before the prince caught her and pulled her back. She thrashed and tried to get away without actually striking him – she was already in enough trouble as it was – but he had her beneath him in a position of little to no leverage too quickly and she finally went limp, sobbing as she realised it was futile. His grip softened briefly in response to her submission and he put his lips to her ear to whisper quickly, “Do not struggle, it does no good. If I refuse he will take you himself and your suffering will be far worse. No more fighting…. I am sorry.”

He moved both of her hands to one of his own, pinning them gently yet firmly in front of her by the wrists as he lowered her down into the sheets, his chest pressed into her back, holding her there with his body as he attempted to prepare himself with his other hand. In any other situation she might have found it arousing, but all she could think of then was the impending pain. Sky bit her lip to stifle her whimpers; Fili released his cock for a moment to rub the soft flesh of her behind soothingly before returning to his work, which didn’t seem to be happening quickly enough for Thorin. He growled something at his nephew who responded with a snappish sort of tone. The King was on him in an instant; Sky winced in sympathy at the little cry that was torn from Fili’s lips as his uncle entangled his fingers in the long golden locks and tugged the prince’s head back roughly, bringing his mouth to his sister-son’s ear and snarling harsh syllables that made even Sky cower in fear, despite not understanding a single word being said. Fili’s reply was tense with pain; he spoke through gritted teeth and the hand holding her wrists relinquished their grip in favour of pawing at the fingers holding him captive. The older dwarf gave an annoyed hiss and released Fili, leaving him rubbing his scalp as Thorin rose from the bed and stormed over to a chest in the far corner of the room. Apparently her equally as unwilling bed partner was having difficulty getting it up. Thorin returned with a thick metal phallus which glinted evilly in the torch light as if it knew what it was about to do to her and looked forward to it as much as its King was.  
Sky had no time to ponder more on the ridiculous notion, falling forward with a scream as white hot pain shot through her. Thorin chuckled and held her down with one thick forearm as he eased it in further, slowly now that it had passed her tight ring of muscle, drawing the pain out and pushing until the only part sticking out was just long enough for a handhold. She groaned at the awful fullness stretching her insides, sure that it had torn at least flesh at the edge going in. She could feel trickles of warm liquid tracing little pathways down her skin.  
“Now use it. And do it properly or I shall have to take over.”  
“Yes, Sire.”  
Sky screamed again as Fili wrapped his hand around the protruding part of the dildo and began to pump it in and out of her, his free arm wrapped around her waist to hold her still. Tears welled up in her eyes and dropped more and more frequently as the burn increased and continued; there was no relief forthcoming and Sky’s struggles became progressively more violent until finally Thorin bound her arms to the posts at the head, one on each side so that she was spread-eagled and pressed up against bedstead, her body forced into an arch with the phallus almost pounding her now from behind.

Through the pain-induced fog settling over her mind, Sky realised Thorin was talking to her and stared fearfully at the pair of tiny clips linked by a delicate chain that he held in his broad palm.  
“Your nipples are quite sensitive I’ve noticed. Too sensitive, but it will work well this evening for what I have in mind.”  
The blood drained from her face as she recognised them.  
Nipple clamps.  
Her bonds held her still enough that the sadistic dwarf managed to close them over each of her nipples without much fuss, and a new pain lanced through her as though a thousand tiny pins had been rammed into the delicate tips of her breasts. And that, too, was unrelenting. She keened and wailed aloud desperately, begging Thorin to make it stop, to forgive her, to grant her some clemency. She was being thrust helplessly into a never ending spiral of sheer agony, particularly when the King shoved Fili out of the way and caught hold of the metal cock himself, ripping it out of her and replacing it with his own hardened member.  
The edges of her vision darkened and before she knew it, the brutal sensations began to ebb, fading into the back of her mind along with the sounds of Thorin roaring out his release. Unable to cope with the mental and physical trauma it had suffered within the space of only a few hours, her body cut her off and she passed out.

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

“I think I’ll stay; bathe and dress here.”  
The voice wasn’t deep enough to be Thorin’s, so Sky determined it was Fili who had spoken. She was lying on the sweat-dampened sheets, eyes closed as she held herself perfectly still. She had come round a few minutes ago, trying not to groan and give herself away when the pinch of the clamps had disappeared as someone removed them and dropped them on the floor. She must have been untied whilst she was out. Something in her knew that if Thorin realised she was awake the torture could very well begin again. She couldn’t take any more of that.  
“If I may?” The same voice continued.  
There was a short pause, then Thorin grunted, “Very well. But manage your time wisely.”  
“Yes, Sire.”

The sounds of the dwarf king sweeping out of the room without another word faded into the distance and Sky was alone with his nephew. The prince sighed and evidently bent to pick up his clothing, if the rustling of fabric was anything to go by. Sky was confused. Why had he stayed? Surely his own quarters would be preferable to hers?  
“He left. You can open your eyes now.”  
He knew she had regained consciousness and hadn’t informed Thorin.  
The revelation puzzled her further. What exactly did he want from her? _Did_ he want anything from her?  
“D-do you still require my services, y-your Highness?” She asked, tentatively, though desperately hoping the answer would be no. He didn’t seem like he’d enjoyed the things they’d just done any more than she did; he wouldn’t want more would he?

“No.” His tone was soft as usual, but abrupt. Relieved, she laid there awkwardly, trying to decide what she should do next. Any movement sent a new wave of pain through her abused anal canal and she could already feel bruises forming all over her body. Her head still ached terribly on top of it all. In fact it felt worse than when she had first awoken since the court incident. She realised Fili was standing across the room from her by the door leading into the bathing area, watching her with that same blank expression.  
“Are you going to clean yourself?”  
“U-um…. Yes.” Sky stuttered, wincing as she grasped the nearest bedpost to get up. She took a deep breath then followed him, gritting her teeth, limping heavily and biting back whimpers, into the wet room. Fili tossed his clothes on the bench then proceeded to remove the clasps on the ends of his braids before unravelling the latter. He looked very different with them out. Wilder in a way.  
Sky felt she must be meant to do something. What was the protocol for when one of the royals had finished fucking her and wanted a bath in her chambers instead of their own? Was she supposed to help? Massage his shoulders or prepare a towel or wank him off again or something? Dwarves had incredible stamina and seemed to recover remarkably quickly so even the most ridiculous option she could think of after sex was still kind of valid. Or maybe her brain was still in shock from the painful session on top of the hard knock she had received to the head. The answer was probably staring her in the face and she simply couldn’t gather her thoughts properly in order to figure it out. Perhaps it was better to just ask…. Despite what Thorin had made him do to her, the blonde dwarf seemed the most reasonable of the three. He wouldn’t punish her for not knowing…. Surely?

“M-may I assist in some way, y-your Highness?”  
“No! You’ve done enough! I can bathe myself,” Fili growled and Sky flinched in response. He looked guilty for a second before the mask came back.  
“Have I displeased you, my lord?” She felt like she was going to cry; Sky mentally slapped herself. It made absolutely no sense. She never cried when Thorin spoke to her harshly, though that was most likely because she was usually too terrified to feel anything else. Fili’s tone softened again when he next spoke. “Just– take a break. Look after yourself for now. And no more honorifics, alright? Not while we’re the only ones here.”  
She nodded numbly, still fighting back those ludicrous tears which were trying so hard to embarrass her by showing up uninvited in front of _him_ of all people…. He made his way over to the ‘cubbies’ from which he retrieved a bar of soap and a large vial half full of hair wash, placed them on the floor by the edge and slipped into the water with a sigh. Sky dawdled for a bit, then slid in on the other side of the bath, groaning as the hot water immersed all her sore parts except for her head. Fili looked up after a moment whilst wetting his hair and must have noticed her just sitting there.  
“Is something wrong?”  
Her head whipped back around from staring at the shelves and gnawing on her bottom lip. “Uh n-no your hi– I mean, no.”  
“Why aren’t you washing?”  
“I…. Um….”

He was patiently waiting for an answer, still with no readable expression on his face. Taking a deep breath, she decided to just tell him and hope for the best. “You took the one I normally use.”  
She waved a hand in a vague, uncertain gesture toward the bottle beside him. He proffered it to her. Her throat convulsed nervously and she waded across just close enough to reach out and take it from his hand, before returning to her side of the pool. Fili blew out air through his nose, lips tightening as he leant back against the ledge and continued rinsing off the soap. There was silence for a time as Sky lathered up her hair then gingerly crossed to his side again with the intention of placing the vial next to him, though not getting closer than necessary. He gently caught her wrist before she could pull it back and she gasped softly, eyes flicking up to his in a startled manner, body tensing up instantly. Something flickered in his eyes which she couldn’t quite distinguish.  
“That was not me out there. It was Thorin. You must understand I had no choice. It would have been worse for you had I disobeyed him.”  
She swallowed then nodded, wondering why he felt the need to state out loud what they both already knew. Those glacial depths betrayed almost nothing of his thoughts, his face remained perfectly schooled most of the time and his body language told her little.

Unnerving to say the least.

Thorin may have been unpredictable, but she had found she could still read him well enough to know most days how best to please him and suffer minimal punishment. Fili wasn’t like his uncle; that much was clear. But what he _was_ like eluded her, and that lack of certainty around him made her equally as wary of the Crown Prince as she was of the King.  
He released her and picked up the bottle she had brought back, pouring out some of the thick liquid inside onto his palm before setting it down again and recapping it one-handed. He massaged the wash into his scalp, no longer pinning her with his gaze. She realised she was staring at him – still standing far too close for comfort despite no longer being held there by him – and turned away quickly, sloshing to the opposite end once more. Some ‘shampoo’ slithered down her forehead and into her eye, reminding her of two things.  
One, she still looked like the soapy monster from that shampoo ad she had seen back when she was six years old and television actually existed and two, it stung. Badly. Sky cursed under her breath and dipped her head below the water, pawing at her eye to get rid of the offending suds. A mild burning sensation she hadn’t even noticed before then made itself known around her stitches and she groaned, releasing several bubbles into the water, realising the wash was likely reacting badly to the fresh wound and she should have known better…. She forced herself to stay under a little longer, brushing her hand gingerly across the cut to try to rinse it all off properly. Thankfully the burn finally stopped.

When she resurfaced, she found Fili standing next to her and jumped.  
“Would you like some assistance there?” He asked, his tone bordering on amused. She barely managed to keep herself from scowling at him and instead splashed more water on her face.  
“No thanks, I’m fine.”  
He shrugged and climbed out, reaching for a towel. Sky followed, albeit more slowly because of the pain her body was still in and sat awkwardly on her own towel which she had spread out on the bench. She winced and shifted to one side as a burning sensation began to spread around her anus; she couldn’t prevent the pained groan that was ripped from her throat, the movement doing nothing but make it worse.

“Lie down on your belly and stay there. I shall return shortly.”  
Sky looked up at Fili in surprise at the abrupt instruction, but he was already striding out of the door, completely naked, before she could ask him why. She sighed and eased herself into the position he wanted, settling down to wait, biting down on the edge of her towel as a distraction in her attempts not to shift around to ease the discomfort as the area around her entrance began to sting mercilessly. Sky was beginning to wish for the sensation of shampoo in her eyes over the pain in her ass. At least her nipples weren’t doing too badly. So long as she stayed still, they didn’t rub on the fabric beneath her.

As promised, Fili came back not long after, carrying with him a tiny clay pot and a clean rag which he soaked briefly in the water before turning back to her. He seated himself on the end of the bench near her lower half, gently nudging her feet apart to gain access to her nether regions. Sky breathed in sharply as he spread her butt cheeks and began dabbing at her abused hole with the rag. She whimpered and tried not to squirm as the pain intensified in little spurts. He made soft shushing sounds and rubbed her thigh lightly, then went back to work when she relaxed again. Sky gasped as the rag moved away and was replaced with his fingers, smoothing some sort of creamy substance over her opening; she gripped the sides of the bench at the feeling of one finger pushing gently inside to spread the liniment thoroughly around the chafed and torn flesh. The burning subsided remarkably quickly and she expelled the breath she’d been holding in relief, allowing her entire body to go limp as the cream did its work. Her muscles were still sore but she was feeling much better already and whereas before she had believed – rather melodramatically in hindsight – that she would never be pain-free again, now she had hope she might actually be able to walk a lot sooner than she had originally thought.  
“Turn over.”  
His tone was soft and irresistible; she obeyed with a groan and he dabbed some of the lotion on her nipples. She gasped as the pulp of his finger brushed the over-sensitised tip of one and blushed as her loins moistened in response. Luckily he either didn’t notice or ignored the incident, rising and replacing the lid on the little pot before dressing swiftly.  
“Thank you,” she whispered. He turned and nodded once in acknowledgement. Then he was gone.

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

The next day was no better than the last.

Apparently because her transgression had been public, she was required to be dragged into the courtroom and beaten in front of all those who had been present at the time.  
Sky tried to breathe deeply to keep from hyperventilating; it wasn’t really working. The post they were going to tie her to reared ominously from its low platform on the floor a few feet from the bottom of the stairs, in clear view of her position where she stood at ground level beside the dais.  
A large crowd was gathering to watch; she thought she could see one of them taking small bags, presumably of money, from a few of the individuals, writing something down in a book as he accepted each purse.

“Permission to speak, my lord?”  
Her voice came out almost as a squeak when she addressed Dwalin, who leant against a pillar with a grim expression on his scarred face. Though he always looked that way so Sky couldn’t really determine if it had anything to do with him being ordered to carry out her sentence of a hundred lashes. Thankfully, it was to be done with a cane in place of a whip. As a pleasure slave they couldn’t afford to mark her skin permanently.  
“Permission granted, lass.”  
She swallowed in an unsuccessful attempt to ease her tightening throat then croaked, “What is that dwarf doing? The one taking all those bags of money from the others.”  
Dwalin soon found the dwarf in question and shook his head with a disgusted growl.  
“He’s takin’ bets, lass. Tis common practice tae wager on how many lashes it’ll take afore the poor soul being beaten cries oot. A sickenin’ thing tae be sure. Try tae ignore ‘em.”  
Against her will Sky’s breath and heart rate increased rapidly as her situation properly hit home; she felt nauseous and crouched, her head beginning to spin slightly. Dwalin gently grasped her arm and pulled her to her feet, whispering urgently in her ear. “We’re aboot tae enter. Stay strong and cry oot louder than ye’re feelin’ it. Make it look like ah’m hittin’ ye harder than ah am.”  
Before Sky could ask him what the hell that was supposed to mean a drum had started up in the background and they were walking forward, the burly warrior pushing her in front of him. She stumbled once or twice but his tight grip on her shoulder kept her from falling.

Mounting the platform, Sky forced herself to remain compliant as Dwalin bound her wrists to the lowermost of the ugly iron rings high above her head. He’d had to place a short stool where she was meant to stand so that her hands could actually reach. The post was made for those at least a foot taller than her. She felt smaller and more vulnerable than she ever had, standing on tiptoes and tied facing the throne seating the King in an enormous room filled with hostile strangers. She almost laughed bitterly at the irony of the fact the only person she was even remotely cared for by was the dwarf carrying out her penalty.  
She was grateful for the absence of the two princes.  
Fili because he didn’t need to see this after everything he’d already been forced to do and Kili because he was such an obnoxious prick and it would be embarrassing knowing he’d seen her like this. She would never give him the satisfaction if she could help it.

“Are ye ready, lass?” Dwalin murmured as he made a show of tightening and checking the knot holding her in place. “Remember what ah told ye.”  
“Just get it over with, please,” she gritted, eyeing Thorin apprehensively even as she watched Dwalin step back at the edge of her vision and pick up the cane he was to use on her.  
The King raised a hand and the drumming – that she had all but tuned out until then – ceased.  
Then he dropped it back onto the armrest of his seat and smirked as the first blow fell. Sky didn’t need to pretend that it hurt; the burn spreading across her shoulder blades was painful enough to rip a gasp from her. But Thorin was analysing Dwalin’s movements with suspicion already and she knew that if he took over or assigned someone else to the role everything would get a whole lot worse.  
The second strike painted a new stripe of heat just below the first one.  
This time she let loose a loud cry, thinking that it would most likely be real before they’d gotten to the half-way mark anyway, even at the rate Dwalin was going.  
Ninety-eight to go.  
She tensed and waited for the next one to land, pleading silently for it to end soon.

_‘Just let it be over already….’_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies to those of gentler minds. If you really hated this, I suggest not reading further or continuing on with discretion as it’s only going to get worse in some of the chapters coming up at about the midway mark and nearer to the end (not soon-soon but soon). Otherwise, I hope you at least enjoyed the Fili/Sky fluff and niceish?Dwalin at the end there. As always I am open to any and all forms of feedback and am gleefully looking forward to the day when it sinks in that Thorin is evil and psychotic and will not change. (For anyone. Let alone some slip of a girl belonging to a race the lives of which he values about the same amount as the majority of people in our world do livestock.) I am so looking forward to the mixed reactions I am predicting I’ll receive after some of the more controversial, darker, less-savoury (gross understatement) up-coming events in several chapters’ time.   
> Please read and review. I improve through people – upon realising it is not a felony to give constructive criticism and point out areas that need improvement and/or development – telling me truly what they thought. If you noticed a typo, a grammatical mistake or something that just didn’t make sense even when you hung yourself upside-down from the ceiling and squinted at the chapter through a scrying stone whilst singing ‘Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gum Tree’…. For FSM’s sake, save yourself a headache and possible multiple injuries; just bloody well point it out to me and ask “What is this shit?” lolz.  
> Skywolf42, over and out. ;)
> 
>  
> 
> Khuzdul Translation:
> 
> Irakdashat – nephew; singular
> 
> Much gratitude to Dwarrowscholar (not a Fanfiction pen name by the way; look them up on the general internet) who spent so much time putting together an actual English-Khuzdul DICTIONARY, which is what I used here.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello all. :D Yes, I am spoiling you!! You get another chapter so soon after the other one was posted!! I hope I get some reviews for all my hard work. ;) Kili’s lovers are going to like this one I think….

Snow.

Cold, wet, wonderful, _clean_ snow.

Sky rarely saw it, having been born and raised in Australia. Some of the higher mountain ranges there got snow each year, but nowhere else. It was an absolute delight to her….  
Yet even now it was sadly, _maddeningly_ just out of reach.  
She sat forlornly pressed up against the grate cutting off access to her own balcony, watching as it fell and turned the mountainside white, covering the twisted, stunted trees and slowly filling the ravine below.  
And just the edge of her balcony. It was blowing in the wrong direction for it to fall any closer to her.  
A clump of it slithered off an outcrop of rock above the opening and landed with a soft _floomph_ barely a foot away. She perked up and pushed against the iron bars, stretching out a hand to try to at least touch it…. And sucked in a sharp breath as the muscles near the base of her spine twinged. She pulled back with a sigh and pressed her fist firmly into the area, trying to massage it loose.

Thorin had been getting rather experimental during his visits over the past month and Kili was no better in his treatment of her, though thankfully he seemed a lot less inventive…. As it was, his preferred position with her lying flat on her front lately had put more strain on her back than it was used to and she awoke nearly every morning with stiff, randomly spasming muscles. She’d asked Lasl for a massage but the other had declined, swiftly adding that under different circumstances she would be happy to, but if Thorin somehow got wind of it he might decide Lasl was disobeying his orders. The older girl seemed almost as terrified of the dwarf king as Sky herself. Perhaps more.

The sting from a tiny cluster of crystallised water touching her cheek caught her attention and her head whipped around excitedly to confirm what she thought was occurring. The wind had changed and was blowing the snow toward the mountain now. More flakes hit her face and melted quickly; she felt a giggle burble up from her belly and was almost too surprised about the rare sensation to notice at first that the snow was falling more thickly and rapidly now, beginning to cover her entire balcony and burying the bottom of the grate whilst she watched fascinatedly. She scooped up a handful of it and squeezed it into a ball, ignoring the numbness quickly spreading through her fingers and palms. Numbness and pain; she was becoming accustomed to both now and hardly noticed minor discomforts anymore.

She’d been at it for several minutes and had begun to feel a bone deep cold ache in her hands when she heard a gasp from behind her and turned to see Lasl crossing to her swiftly and taking Sky’s hands in her own. She rubbed them vigorously, chastising the smaller woman all the while.  
“What were you _thinking_ , Miss? Picking up snow bare? You should wear gloves, my Ma always told me, and she was right you know! She was always right about those things….”

Sky watched and listened quietly, hiding her amusement as best she could. It wasn’t Lasl’s fault she happened to be so adorable when she fussed.  
“I’m alright, Lasl, really,” she attempted to calm the flustered maid.  
Lasl stood and tugged Sky up and over to the hearth after her with a business-like air. “I won’t hear another word out of you, Miss. Not until we’ve warmed up those poor hands and we know they won’t drop off!”  
She couldn’t help but snort at this, “They’re not going to drop off. I promise you. I’d have to exposed for far longer and to far colder weather than– ”  
“Shhhhht!” Lasl had a finger to her lips and a stern expression on her face. “I shall be as respectful as possible whenever I can, Miss. But endangering your own health like that I will _not_ abide. Now please just sit down here on the rug and I’ll get a nice fire going. I should have been up here sooner but I was detained with the laundry.”

Sky noticed a pile of clean towels and thick blankets folded neatly at the edge of the divan. Lasl spoke as she struck a spark onto the tinder with a piece of flint and metal, “Those coverings are to replace your old ones. Nights in the Mountain are chilly as it is. During winter it’s almost unbearable without ways to keep warm. I and the other slaves serving in the upper levels are lucky; Lord Balin sees to it that we receive extra blankets during the colder months.”  
Sky smiled, “Lord Balin is quite a cut above the rest isn’t he?”  
She thought she saw Lasl blush but the maid turned away before she could be sure. How curious.  
“So is the Crown Prince if you don’t mind my saying so, Miss.”  
“True.”

Silence fell. Lasl came and went, stowing the towels away on their shelf and folding Sky’s old blankets to replace them with those she had brought in. She spirited the former covers away somewhere when Sky wasn’t watching and was soon back checking on the state of her charge’s hands.  
“I’ll bring you your winter clothes just as soon as I’m able, Miss.”  
“Why can’t I just walk around in a fur? It would be easier to remove when requested,” she joked, but even she winced at the slight bitterness in her tone.  
Lasl gave her a tight smile and a pat on the shoulder then made to close the doors in front of the grate to keep more snow from entering the room.  
“No, wait! Leave it awhile longer. Please.”  
“You’ll catch your death– ”  
“Cold weather doesn’t make people sick, Lasl. Viruses do. The temperature just lowers the body’s immune system making it easier for them to take hold.” The maid looked confused for a second and Sky realised too late what she’d let slip.  
“What is a ‘vi-a-ris’?”  
“I.... I’m not sure…. You know what, forget it. Hey, did you know that when you hold a snowflake under a magnifying glass, you can see its structure? No snowflake is the same.” Sky prayed the dwarves had some form of magnifying glass in order to work with tiny gems and jewellery.  
“Really?” It seemed to be working as the distraction she’d needed. “How do you know?” Sky cursed mentally then neatly sidestepped the question with one of her own. “Would you like to see?”  
Lasl nodded rather vigorously, excitement glinting in her gaze as she said, “Lord Balin has one of those magnifier things we could use.” Sky cocked her head curiously, “Oh? Shall we go ask him then?” Before either of them knew it, Lasl was leading her to Balin’s chambers, apprehension twisting in her gut. She wasn’t doing anything wrong technically so she wasn’t quite sure why….

It was surprisingly easy to cajole Balin into loaning them his magnifying lens once Sky disclosed what they wanted it for. The white-haired dwarf himself was thoroughly intrigued and insisted on accompanying them.  
Balin’s chambers had no access to the outside, so the trio returned to the royal consort’s quarters to perform the experiment, Sky feverishly hoping she would be able to escape any more difficult questioning and kicking herself for being such a loose-tongued fool in the first instance.  
Predictably, when Balin caught a flake on his black glove and held the lens over it his jaw went slack and his eyes widened considerably at what he saw. Lasl’s reaction was the same. The two of them stood close together, faces almost touching as they peered at the rapidly melting fragment on the dark leather. Sky smirked; they looked rather cute together, Lasl leaning over his shoulder as she stood more than a foot taller than the dwarf.

She left them to it and slipped into her bedchamber to retrieve the sketchbook. She just couldn’t let the opportunity go to waste…. However they of course had moved apart again by the time she returned. Balin saw the book and Sky quickly opened it to a clean page before he could ask.  
“Would you catch another one for me, my lord? I’d like to make an attempt at keeping it forever.”  
Balin caught several snowflakes. However each one melted before Sky could sketch a complete replica. The snowflake she finally ended up with on paper was an amalgamation of several patterns combined with her own imagination. Lasl gazed at it in wonder and Balin smiled. He had a nice smile, though Sky hadn’t seen him wear it often.

“This is an amazing discovery. How did you come by this knowledge?”  
“One of those things I just can’t remember,” she replied, falling back on her timeworn excuse and feeling her heart sink when he gave her a sceptical look. How much longer would it be before she couldn’t use that to dodge awkward questions anymore? Thankfully he said no more, simply took his lens back, bid them a good morning and left.

Sky doodled for a while, drawing another snowflake at Lasl’s excited request. The older woman was almost childlike in those moments, poring over the layers upon layers of angles and shapes Sky was using to create the crystal patterns. They sat there for quite awhile in front of the fireplace. When she was finished, Sky made to close the book but her maid caught the edge and whispered, as though afraid they would be overheard, “Do you think I could…. I could…. Have one? To look at sometimes?” The silent plea in her soft brown eyes was impossible to turn down. Sky smiled and gently tore out the page on which she’d rendered the first snowflake, handing it to the other girl who took it yet oddly enough looked not at the drawing but at the sketchbook hanging open in the consort’s hand.  
“Is that Prince Fili?”  
Sky’s heart skipped a beat and she glanced down in dread to see the image she had sketched roughly a week ago. He was dressed as he’d been on the quest in the first two movies and was standing with one foot up on a rock, profile turned to the left with a stick in one hand and a rope flung over his opposite shoulder. A tree grew at an angle behind him and his hair had been depicted in such a way that it appeared as though a mild breeze was ruffling his tresses as well as the two braids dangling either side of his mouth.  
Lasl made as though to grab the book but Sky snapped it closed and whipped it behind her back with a glare. A knock interrupted them before it could escalate any further and Sky’s annoyance and embarrassment melted into fear as she shared an anxious look with her maid, who quickly disappeared into the bedchamber so as to appear to be working. Sky sat on the divan and called out a rather nervous “Enter.”  
An armoured dwarf stood imperiously in the doorway. “You have been summoned to Prince Kili’s chambers. I am to escort you there.”  
She sighed and rose, stuffing the book between the cushion and the back of the settee before picking up her veil from the sideboard and donning it. The guard turned and she followed him out, mentally preparing herself for yet another encounter with the seemingly insatiable youngest prince.

 

 

Sky blinked her eyes open slowly, disoriented for a moment as she found herself staring at a wall across from the bed she was lying on. A wooden stand wtook up the space in the corner, supporting a chain mail halberg and gambeson draped together over its yardarm. She had fallen asleep on Kili’s bed. How, she had no idea. She vaguely remembered him heading for his wash room after he was finished with her and she had closed her eyes for just a second….  
Her eyes panned the now familiar room. Kili’s chambers had no real doors to speak of other than the door leading into the hallway outside. It appeared to be one very spacious dwarf-made cavern with a stone wall partially separating the bed chamber from the living area and the receiving ‘room’. If she leant out slightly she would be able to see the hearth and the plush-looking cushions strewn over the bearskin rug in front of it. A table and chairs could be seen to one’s right as one entered through the door; they tended to be draped with all manner of clothing and covered in what appeared to be bits of armour and what Sky assumed to be mending equipment. She always had to pick her way carefully across the floor there in her bare feet, as she’d already stepped on loose chain mail links and small screws more times than she could count. A few pairs of muddy boots laid in the corner near the fireplace, scattered haphazardly as though they had just been flung there without a second glance. Various animal heads adorned the walls; Sky recognised a few deer, a bobcat, a fox and what could only be the head of a warg mounted over the opening to a stairwell leading down into unexplored regions. She wasn’t allowed to go down there and her curiosity constantly gnawed at the edges of her mind whenever she saw it. Kili had brushed off her inquiries each time, telling her it was none of her concern and that she was there to do her duty, nothing more.

The prat himself was currently seated at the large walnut desk positioned against the wall off to one side of the Forbidden Stairwell. He appeared to be writing something, his tongue poking out the left corner of his mouth a little. It was mildly amusing. He paused for a moment, likely hearing the rustle of the bed sheets as she shifted.  
“You have awakened.”  
He didn’t turn around as he spoke, simply continued scratching away at the parchment. Sky swung her legs over the side of the bed, intending to retrieve her dress and leave. The quill halted again and his head angled a bit more toward her.  
“Where do you think you are going?”  
She rolled her eyes and laid back down with a huff.  
“You will stay until you are dismissed…. Or until my uncle has need of you.”  
The scratching resumed and Sky picked absentmindedly at the sharp point of a feather poking out of the pillow under her head. Kili rubbed his nose and shifted in his seat. The fire in the hearth crackled.  
“What are you doing?” Sky hadn’t realised she’d opened her mouth until the words tumbled out with a will of their own. Kili sighed and muttered as though trying very hard to be patient, “I’m working.”  
“Hmm….” Sky flopped on her back and stared at the canopy above her. “’Kili’ and ‘work’…. Not really two things I thought could ever be put in the same sentence.” He shook his head and mumbled what sounded like possibly a few choice words in Khuzdul, but otherwise ignored her.  
“I bet it’s a diary.”  
No response.  
She rolled back to face him and laid on her belly, resting her face in her hands propped up on her elbows and crossing her feet behind her. She stared at him for a few seconds, swiped the tip of her tongue slowly over her bottom teeth in thought then grinned mischievously.

“’Dear diary…. I saw an adorable little puppy today. I kicked it just because I could. It yelped piteously and ran away crying. I was turned on by the experience and even came in my pants….’” His brow creased but he made no other indication he’d heard her.

“Dear diary…. Today I learnt about alcohol! It was an enlightening experience. The maid says I have an STD. Must remember to ask Balin what that is….” Kili gave her a look that might have been a Middle Earth equivalent of ‘what the fuck are you on?’ and focused on the parchment again.  
Sky let a few minutes pass to let him think she’d given up, and launched back in.  
“Dear diary…. Fili is going to be so angry! I stole all his trousers…. Now he won’t be able to spoil our grand feasts with all those boring speeches.”  
The corner of Kili’s mouth twitched for a second. Sky watched him intently, though all he did was clear his throat rather noisily then kept writing.

“Dear diary…. Today, Uncle took me to the treasury to help him inventory it. I got a good look at the Arkenstone. Hashtag soooo shiny, hashtag never-be-king….”  
This time he dropped the quill and swivelled in his seat, body tense and eyes filled with suspicion. “How do you know about the Arkenstone? It is a secret known only to my kind!”  
Sky shrugged, attempting to keep her calm demeanour, even whilst inside she was panicking and berating herself for not realising she would attract the _wrong_ sort of attention by mentioning their jealously guarded artefact. “Evidently not as secret as you thought. The men I trained with back in the Withered Heath spoke about it all the time. They treated it as a myth of course, but I know most stories are grand fibs woven around a gem of truth.” This was of course a shameless lie, and a mildly butchered Emily Rodda reference, but Kili didn’t need to know that. At least she wouldn’t be suspected of somehow locating the treasury and finding the stone herself. She couldn’t even imagine how Thorin might react if he was convinced that was true. She shuddered inwardly. Kili was staring at her thoughtfully, tapping a finger against his knee as he sorted through the information. He frowned again and Sky swallowed nervously, wondering if he’d found a hole in the tale.  
“What is a hashtag?”  
She froze, frantically wracking her brains for a way to get out of yet another pit she had foolishly dug herself into. “Not everyone has the same syntax as dwarves, and that’s alright because diversity is commonly accepted to be a desirable state,” she found herself telling him. He blinked owlishly at her and for once he looked almost like the lighter, more carefree version of himself she was used to seeing on screen. Perplexity suited him, she found herself thinking with amusement.

“Dear diary….” She continued, before he had a chance to ask any more questions. “My mother appeared in my dream during court today and said she’ll haunt me if my room isn’t cleaned up so the consort can come in without worrying about getting a mail link through her foot. But none of the maids will enter my chambers since that one time, and I don’t know what to doooo….”  
“Leave my mother out of it!” He pointed a thick forefinger at her warningly, “And it is hardly my fault you are not allowed shoes. I do not make the rules. Now be quiet. I am _trying_ to write a diplomatic letter.”  
Sky snorted, “You?! Diplomatic? Pah-leese…. Maybe you should get Fili to write it.”  
“Tis my brother’s letter. I’m to write it for him as he is far too busy with other matters at present. Not that it is any business of yours….”  
Sky raised her eyebrows at that. “Does he _know_ you’ve taken it upon yourself? For some reason I don’t think he would trust you with something of so much political importance that the d-word is used.”  
“The d-word….?” He glanced quizzically at her.  
“Diplomatic,” she supplied and he rolled his eyes before turning back to the letter again. “Our uncle has given him more responsibilities and I have noticed he is not sleeping well. I know my brother; he has been up all night trying to catch up on things instead of resting. So I checked his list and chose something I thought I could handle. Now cease your nattering.”

Sky couldn’t help but smile. Who knew the little brat could actually care about someone else besides himself? The youngest Durin was just full of surprises…. _‘Mind you,’_ murmured the naughty little voice, _‘Who wouldn’t love that delicious piece of adorable golden dwarf candy he calls a brother?_ ’  
_‘What the fuck? Shut up!’_  
“I am not talking, _Mushz_. Neither should you be.”  
Sky hadn’t realised she’d been muttering to herself out loud.  
“Now be silent, or I will be forced to gag you.”  
She laid down with a huff…. Then grinned and sat up again as she found the perfect thing she _knew_ would get a rise out of him. Her conscience was telling her she was going too far, that it was too direct a strike to what she knew would be a sensitive nerve from observation, but she just pushed it to the back of her mind.

“Dear diary….” She spoke quickly, as he was already making to stand. “I am very sad and very lonely. All I want is for Thorin to love me. What can I do to make him proud of me? He's always so distant....”  
Kili froze halfway to the bed at the mention of Thorin, and stood there with a turmoil of emotions flitting across his features and in his eyes, though they came and went so quickly, Sky couldn’t pin any of them down. Then one of them stuck and she gulped as the now angry dwarf shoved her hard into the mattress and was on her too quickly for her to escape. He snatched both wrists and bound them roughly to the bar above her, which spanned the length of the headboard and sported several leather straps, just like the bed in her own chambers. He disappeared beneath the bed for a moment, then he was pushing a balled up rag into her mouth and tying it with a leather thong, ignoring her muffled protests and undressing swiftly. Sky let out a shaky sigh and went limp when he spread her legs and moved between them, resigning herself to yet another round.

 

 

Sky was stretched out on her back as she had been for the past half hour or so, eyeing the head on the wall opposite her. _'The fox,'_ she groggily thought to herself, _'though not anymore, poor thing.'_ The small canine's killer laid beside her, snoring softly with his dark hair spreading over his pillow and one arm wrapped around a second which he was hugging to himself like a rather shapeless teddy bear. He certainly didn't look like a killer. Sky knew better, and so had the fox, for whatever time it had possessed to ponder the creature hunting it before its untimely demise.  
The head looked rather old, as though it had been there for decades. Perhaps a first kill? Something a very young dwarf would be proud of enough to mount, despite it having only been a fox. Sky rubbed her wrists, which had chafed slightly in the rough leather bonds. The straps in her chambers were softer and gentler on the limbs. Kili had untied her after a few more rounds and fallen asleep next to her. She had been too sore to move at first, but now she felt some of the discomfort easing, so she carefully extricated herself from under the covers which he had pulled over them both during the second round and found her dress. After donning it, Sky tiptoed out of the bedchamber and was about to pick her way over the hazardous floor when one of the warg's glass eyes caught the light of a wall sconce and glinted at her. She turned to stare at it in horrified fascination. The head was almost the same size as her, filled with two rows of wicked teeth, bared in a permanent snarl. Her heart rate increased just at the mere thought of being anywhere near biting range of those fangs.  
The darkened stairwell beneath the terrifying visage beckoned her. She could just make out the bottom steps via a flicker of torchlight below, which threw shadows over the carven stone. She took a swift peak at the bed to check he was still sleeping, then quietly crept down the stairs.

At the bottom she found herself in a large cavern of sorts, even larger than Kili's chambers, with a ring of sand surrounded by a wooden fence taking up most of the room, and racks upon racks of various kinds of weapons lining the walls all around. She stood there for a few minutes gaping like a basking-shark, then moved to the rack on her right, drawing a Dwarvish broadsword from it. She grunted at the weight of it, but managed to lift it vertically enough to take a good look. She was examining it in fascination when she was suddenly startled by a voice behind her.

"What are you doing?" Sky whipped around to see him standing at the bottom of the stairs in the doorway, arms folded and face stern. She didn’t answer for a moment or two, trying to decide whether or not it would keep her from punishment. Instead when she opened her mouth a question rolled out.  
"You have your own training arena?" Her voice had a slightly incredulous inflection to it. He walked toward her; she took a step back.  
"I _am_ the Captain of the Elite Guard. I told my uncle it was the best way to keep me in shape so he commissioned it for me. What do you think?" He asked as he ran a hand lovingly over the hilt of another sword nearest him. Sky frowned slightly in confusion at his request for her opinion, yet answered all the same.  
"It's great. I could spend hours in here. Not as many as in the library of course, but still...." She trailed off when she noticed him looking at her with a strange light in his eye. It disappeared however when he clearly realised she had caught him staring.  
"Put the sword back and come upstairs," he ordered, turning to leave.  
"Or what?"  
Kili froze with one foot on the bottom stair.  
"I beg your pardon?" He murmured, facing her again.

Sky returned the sword to the rack but then walked away from him to another further down holding wooden versions of the weapons she had just been admiring. She drew a beautifully crafted short-sword like the one she had been trained with by the Heath Tribes then climbed awkwardly over the fence, cursing under her breath as the fabric on her dress caught for a moment before pulling it loose. The sand met her toes and she smiled then turned to Kili with her 'weapon' raised in a silent challenge.

Kili snorted in amusement, "You couldn't hold your own against my brother. What makes you think you have any chance at all of defeating me?"

"I don't. I know that," came the quiet, yet confident reply. "And that's why you're going to teach me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehehehe!! Cliff-hanger!! This is one of the many perks of being a writer…. Tormenting engaged readers!! MWUH HA HA HA HA!! I will begin work on the next chapter after my assignment for Uni is handed in next week. I already actually have a fully written beginning…. I just need to write the rest of the chapter lol. As always, please leave a review to tell me what you thought, be it good or bad. Thanks. Skywolf over and out. :D
> 
> Khuzdul Translation:
> 
> Mushz – rodent
> 
> Much gratitude to Dwarrowscholar (not a Fanfiction pen name by the way; look them up on the general internet) who spent so much time putting together an actual English-Khuzdul DICTIONARY, which is what I used here.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all!! Sorry for the wait. I was at the end of semester and study week began then I had to move in the middle of study week and I just finished most of my exams though I still have my Performance Study Exam/Recital coming up in two days and the exam for my other big 10 credit point course coming up in five days time…. Yikes!! I really should have been practicing my repertoire this evening but, meh. I’ll practice extra hard tomorrow…. 
> 
> Kili-Muse: *Cough*Famous last words *Cough*  
> Me: *Slaps him upside the head* Shut up!! This is all your fault you know!!  
> Kili-Muse: *Shrugs* You enjoyed it.  
> Me: *Hangs head shamefacedly* I know….
> 
> PLEASE READ THE END OF CHAPTER 12 AGAIN ELSE YOU MIGHT NOT GET THE FULL IMPACT OF THE BEGINNING SCENE HERE. I left off in the middle of the last one for full dramatic effect but didn’t update soon enough. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope this makes up for the wait. By the way I have read back through this story and I realised I lumped 3 lemons in a row on you all…. I was still in PWP mode as KM was trying to drag me down the road of attempt-to-create-an-actual-story. Sorry lol. The whole point of fanfiction, in my eyes, is to be able to experiment with things and learn the intricacies of good story telling. Please bear with me and I hope I am getting better as I go along. Crossed fingers. I had a reader also review to tell me that Chapter 12 was mildly jarring in the way I opened it. If anyone else sees things like this, let me know ok? I felt something was off and didn’t realise what until the reader pointed it out.  
> If you could all really think about what I’m doing and break it down to pick at it – particularly the more experienced fanfic writers who are reading this; you know who you are – and offer suggestions for what might make it better, you might help me improve faster which means the story will too. :D  
> Don’t spare my feelings. If we pussyfooted around with everyone’s work all the time everything presented would be trash. Room for improvement is good!! And even better when it is pointed out as we’re all only human and we each often need someone outside our brains pointing out places where we need to improve because let’s face it, it’s far too easy to fall into a pattern of complacency when others aren’t there to gently slap us back into cold, hard yet highly entertaining ‘reality’. 
> 
> Oh and by the way, when I write Woman with a capital W, it pertains to human women specifically. When I write woman, it could mean anything female and humanoid. Check out the context for specifics.  
> Also, just a little thing to cool the no doubt rising wrath of my readers: The dwarves are not sexist. They’re racist. Not that racism is in any way better, I just wanted to clear that up so you can all understand where the dwarves are coming from with their prejudice and why their dams are treated as equals but not human women (or men). Kili is of the opinion Sky can’t fight because she is human, not because she is female. (The dwarrowdams who choose to learn are treated as worthy and equal opponents. And they most certainly are that).
> 
> Enjoy.

**Heavy Combat Terms Used**

**Onside Strike:** Place your hand at an angle against your face, palm up with your thumb touching your right cheek. Now swing it out and forward so that the right side of your palm ‘strikes’ your imaginary target, still palm-side up but stretched out in front of you. Now pick up a stick or a stick-like object and do the same thing. This is an onside strike.  
**Offside Strike:** Place your hand at an angle against your face, palm down with your thumb touching your left cheek. Now swing it out and forward so that the right side of your palm ‘strikes’ your imaginary target, still palm-side down but stretched out in front of you. Now pick up a stick or a stick-like object and do the same thing. This is an offside strike.  
**Wrap:** This is a tricky one to describe. I’ll do my best, but basically the target in this chapter is the back of Kili’s head though Sky attacks from a diagonal position to him as opposed to actually from behind him. (It’s only one of the wrap’s several different uses in combat.)  
Position your hand as though you are about to perform the onside strike and begin to swing the hand out as per normal. Just as you are about to finish the movement however, turn your palm over so that it faces down and pull it back so that your elbow is out and in line with your shoulder (basic form; forget technique for now lol). Try it with your ‘sword’ and you will see how the tip strikes the back of the ‘head’ of your ‘target’, despite your attack position being frontal (or diagonal) to your ‘opponent’. Try it on a pole to get a better visual if you need.

As an alternative, you can always look these terms up on YouTube. The SCA (Society for Creative Anachronisms) is an excellent place to start when learning these kinds of things, even if you only watch and don’t wish to actually physically learn it yourself.

 **Pell:** A device for practicing sword-work. Basically a formless practice dummy. Usually a pole-like object sometimes padded with rope.

 

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

 

Kili looked rather stunned for a moment.  
"Teach you?" he scoffed, when he had recovered from his surprise. "You're a Woman! Your race is _hopeless_ on the battlefield, no matter how much training you receive or practice you do. Just look how easily we defeated the Heath Tribes—"  
"When you attacked full force, yes." Sky spoke through gritted teeth, "But every time before that? Every time before that I saw you all running with your tails between your legs, routed by less than five score snipers. Half of those beat you hand to hand!"  
"They caught us off guard!" He countered, though she noticed with some interest that he had selected a practice blade not dissimilar to her own and was coiling himself to spring over the railing to join her. "The snivelling cowards appeared out of nowhere and cut down several of our soldiers before they could blink...." He vaulted into the arena, landing with a barely audible thud on the softer sand at the edge. "Then ran and hid again when they saw their enemy regrouping, actually prepared to face them head on now that they knew where the barbarians were." He struck with no warning as he spoke, and Sky grunted as pain lanced through her hand, forcing her to drop the 'sword' before gasping as she realised the edge of Kili's weapon was resting on the back of her neck, which she had exposed when she instinctively doubled over slightly.  
"Dead." His voice was smug. He traced the point down her neck and along her jaw, slipping it under her chin and tapping once to make her straighten and lift her face to him fully. She glared at him sullenly.  
“As you appear to have not yet completely grasped your station in life, allow me to re-educate you,” he murmured, eyes flitting down her body then up again to pin her with his dark gaze. “Your place is in either our King’s chambers, mine, my brother’s, or your own. _Not_ the arena.”  
She looked away, allowing her muscles to relax so as to appear as though she’d accepted what he was saying. Kili stepped back, satisfied with her seeming surrender, which turned out to be a mistake.  
Sky bent as if to gather up her skirts to climb over the fence, but at the last second scooped up a handful of sand and tossed it in the direction of his face. She heard him grunt and saw him turn to avoid it as she quickly recovered her sword, throwing a rushed wrap at the back of his head which he somehow thwarted.  
Then he’d disarmed her and she was standing with a sword point at her throat once more.  
“Care to try again?” He asked, dryly.  
“Sure,” Sky gritted.  
He raised one eyebrow, “Go on then. Retrieve your weapon.”  
His tone was almost derisive; Sky wanted to scoop up some more sand and shove it in his mouth.  
_‘Let’s see if he’s still smirking then,’_ she thought angrily as she picked up her sword and turned to face him.  
The next moment she sensed his blade jabbing at her middle; she deflected it to the left, making it just miss her body then threw an offside strike at his neck only to find he’d retracted the stab instead of following through and already had it up to block her counter. Then he was knocking her sword down and a sharp pain shot through her head as the wooden edge of his own made contact with her jaw, followed by another strike to her ribs. Sky dropped to the floor with a gasp, clutching her injuries. It must have taken him all of two seconds, she calculated sourly.  
“Slow…. _Far_ too slow. And clumsy.” Kili was looking down at her with an almost bored expression.  
She felt herself carefully; nothing felt broken, most likely just bruised.  
“I did not hit you _that_ hard. Stand!”  
Sky took a deep breath and reached for her practice sword, but Kili plucked it up and carried it back with him, returning both blades to the rack.  
“I’m not leaving. I’ll just practice on your pell.” Sky nodded at the padded pole down the other end from them.  
“Get out, or I shall have you removed.” Kili growled.  
After a long hesitation Sky scrambled over the fence again, shooting the dwarf prince a glare as she stormed back up the stairs; if looks could kill, he would have been dead several times over.

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

“What are you reading?”

She almost jumped out of her seat as the voice cut into her concentration. She hadn’t heard him approach. Vexed beyond measure, she had gone to the library in an attempt to avoid running into anyone she couldn’t afford to slight in her angered and irrational state. There was still some frustration roiling in her belly, but it seemed to have mellowed to a more manageable level now.  
Sky twisted to see Fili standing behind her and to one side of where she sat at a table. He was looking over her shoulder at the book in front of her, expressionless as always. She floundered for a second, attempting to decide whether or not she should follow protocol or ignore it as he’d requested. He didn’t seem too fussed however, so she turned back to the tome with a sigh.  
“I am looking at all the pretty symbols whilst wondering if there is anything here I _can_ read.”  
“You could ask Ori.” His tone was cool, though not angry. Just…. Flat.  
Sky shrugged, “He’s asleep again and I haven’t the heart to wake him.” The blonde dwarf nodded, “Aye, he works late into the night often. Says he thinks better then.”  
“I think he’s mad, but whatever floats his boat….”  
Fili shot her a quizzical look. She almost rolled her eyes, but managed to refrain from doing so as she briefly explained the expression, then made a show of turning a page. He reached out a hand to pick up the edge and softly asked, “May I?” She let it go and he pulled it toward him, closing it to read the name on the spine, translating on the fly.  
“ _’Discussions Of Portents and Happenings in the Khazad Realm: Being the Conclusions of this Coucil Convened Third Age 2611 Regarding Some Reports of Dwarves of High Repute.’_ Interesting choice.”  
“I picked it up randomly from a shelf. Figured they’d all look the same to me anyway,” Sky huffed, trying to ignore his gentle mockery and the slight irony in her purely coincidental selection.  
Fili slid the book to the other side of the table. “Stay there. I shall return in a moment,” he said over his shoulder as he vanished down an aisle. He was gone for longer than a moment, more likely closer to a quarter of an hour. Sky fidgeted impatiently, jiggling her leg and gazing around the small ‘clearing’ she had found. Besides her table there were two others with chairs around them and a comfy looking armchair in a corner which she’d stayed well away from as it smelt distinctly like Thorin; a strong musk combined with pipe smoke, the particular type of bath oil he used and another scent she had always had difficulty putting a name to. It was sort of metallic…. and made her feel very uneasy. Sky tore herself away from the unwanted avenue of thought and attempted to clean out the surprisingly dirty fingernails of one hand using a nail from the other. She’d done all of them and had just finished absentmindedly braiding a thin lock of her hair when Fili finally returned, carrying a pile of books as high as his chin which he was using to steady them in his grasp.  
“Woah! Are all those….?”  
“In Westron, yes. There are more but these should keep you occupied for the time being.” He set them carefully on the table and placed the top one in front of her.  
“Maybe you and Ori should switch roles. You’d make an excellent librarian,” Sky joked, then closed her mouth with a snap and glanced up at him nervously, worried she might have offended him. At the very least, she had to be pushing the loosened, yet still present boundaries he had set for her. His eyebrows were raised and he was indeed giving her a reproving look, but the corners of his lips twitched slightly and his eyes seemed to sparkle for a brief moment. Then it disappeared again and reproval was all that remained.  
“Whilst the compliment is recognised and gratefully accepted, I must remind you to keep your tongue in check. You are still far too spirited for your position here and it _will_ land you in hot water. It will not always be within my power to fish you out of trouble or lighten your punishments. You have been rather fortunate so far.” He held her gaze for a few seconds to ensure his words sank in, then frowned as his eyes flitted to her jaw which was now extremely tender and most likely bruised. She cursed herself for having taken the veil off; it was just so uncomfortable and she’d hoped she would have time to don it again if she heard anyone coming.  
“What is that?” He reached out to trace the side of her face, causing her to flinch away from him at first as a prickle of pain emanated from the spot where his cool fingers brushed over it. Then she held herself still so he could examine it; aside from the minor injury, everywhere else he touched sang at the contact. It was the strangest, yet loveliest feeling she’d experienced in a while. “Sky?”  
She blinked as his voice pulled her back to the present, finding it incredibly difficult to concentrate when his hand was still on her like that. “Hmm?”  
“How did this happen?”  
“Oh, um…. Rough session with your brother,” she mumbled. It was half true so she didn’t feel too bad for not telling him in detail what had transpired. Fili muttered something under his breath and took his hand away. Sky bit her lip to prevent a ridiculous whine from escaping in response and embarrassing her even further. “You should see Oin about a salve for that. I need to be elsewhere but if you ask respectfully enough I am sure one of the guards could take you to him,” Fili told her, his tone indifferent once more, then turned on his heel and disappeared between the rows of shelves again, this time heading in the direction of the entrance.

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

Sky was buried in a fascinating study on the uses of lydnleaf about halfway through a tome called _Herbology Of The Ettinsmoors_ , when a chorus of voices distracted her. It sounded as though they were coming from the front of the library. Curious and unable to refocus, she stood and weaved her way toward their location, peering around the final bookshelf to see a trio of dwarves in dresses standing around Ori’s desk. The extravagant skirts and jewellery of the newcomers gave Sky pause enough to wonder if they might not be _dwarrowdams_ , dwarven women. Though the male nobles she had seen before weren’t exactly subtle in their own fashions either….  
The middle one with the most impressive beard of a rich, chocolate colour and hair twisted into an elaborate do leaned forward over the desk to murmur something to Ori, who blushed and stuttered in response, shuffling the papers in front of him, seemingly trying to formulate a proper sentence to convey himself, so far unsuccessfully. Sky frowned as, even though she knew little of their tongue, _body_ language tended to be relatively universal and it was clear from the dams’ stances and Ori’s own behaviour that they were bullying him to some degree.  
She took a step in their direction then remembered herself just in time. There was nothing she could do. If Ori was of a low enough rank that his persecutors thought they could get away with treating him like that, Sky would automatically be an even easier target. She could deal with it if it were only them, but if word got out to Thorin of her less-than-proper conduct…. She shuddered.  
No.  
Ori was on his own for now.  
She slipped on her veil and shot him a mental apology as she carefully opened the door, intending to leave unobserved. There was no way she could stay there if they were about to invade the place. She cursed under her breath as the huge door groaned loudly and the three dwarf women whirled to face her. The older dam’s face was calm and calculating, contrasting the expressions of her companions which were closer to apprehension and possibly even panic. The confusion at seeing her where they were perhaps expecting someone else, though, was shared between the three of them and an uneasy silence fell over the room as Sky fidgeted under their scrutiny. Ori was watching her too, eyes flicking uncertainly between her and his tormentors, gaze pitying.

 _‘Get out, get out, get out, get out!!’_ her instincts shrieked at her, and before she could decide to listen or ignore it in favour of following her set decorum, her feet had already begun to drag her out the door and down the passageway at a swift walk. Sky almost tripped a few times, somehow forgetting in her haste that she was in full-length skirts.  
The sound of the closing door being halted in its path and opened again reached her ears, followed swiftly by a deep female voice calling out: “Stop!”  
Two months’ worth of punishment and other unpleasant consequences for disobeying Thorin – intentionally or no – flashed through her mind and she froze in her tracks, turning to face them and finding herself in the crouch without having to instruct her body to do so. She swallowed nervously as their footsteps drew nearer, fighting to keep her breathing slow and steady.  
The bottom of a beautiful dress entered the edges of her vision, somewhat blurred by the fabric of the short saffron curtain covering Sky’s face.

“Who are you and what were you doing in the Royal Library?” The voice was haughty and rang with authority.  
_‘I could ask the same thing of you,’_ sneered the old Sky. The Sky who wanted to keep the skin on her back, however, did not relay the message and shoved the bolder version to a more isolated corner of her mind, replying instead, “I am His Majesty’s consort, my Lady. I-I have been granted access–”  
“Liar!” Hissed one of the younger dams, both of them having followed their peer in pursuit of her quarry. “Since when have _slaves_ been able to read?”  
The heavy condescension on the word ‘slaves’ made Sky grit her teeth, though she managed to part them enough to answer, “I have done so since I was four years of age, my Lady.” The leader of the trio – for she had to be with that kind of bearing, Sky supposed – snorted dismissively. “I do not believe that for a second. His Majesty would _never_ allow _Man-trash_ like you to sully the Royal Library with your stinking presence! I can only imagine the hideous visage hidden behind that veil–” Sky bit back a cry of pain as the dwarrowdam suddenly tore the item in question off her head, taking several strands of her hair with it. “Why don't we have a little look at what he makes you hide?"

There came a sound resembling a cackle from the red-headed dam to Sky’s left, but the only reaction from their so far silent companion was to shuffle her feet and look away, her doe-brown eyes darting up and down the otherwise empty corridor they were in as though she was afraid they would be caught at any second.  
“Avaris....” she whispered anxiously, addressing the older dam, who shrugged her off with some tersely muttered words in Khuzdul before grasping Sky’s chin, lifting it up with more force than was necessary. Sky bit back a pained noise and reluctantly met the dwarrowdam’s gaze, which glared down at her with disdain and…. Hate? She hadn’t even _seen_ her before. What could she have possibly done to garner such loathing?  
“Ah, see here, Zaarm? Such unsightly features. All rounded down the bottom like an over-ripe orange and not even a bit of stubble down the jaw-line!”  
Zaarm shook her head in disgust, “Truly one of the ugliest things I’ve ever seen. Well, aside from that Man-child who empties my chamber pot each morning. Luckily it doesn’t serve meals or it would put me right off my dinner!”  
“And its _hair_!” Avaris continued, taking a lock of Sky’s shoulder-length tresses and holding them to the side for examination with the tips of her fingers, the way she might pick up the decomposing carcass of some critter by its tail or another appendage. “So short and unworkable. And greasy…. I will never understand our monarch’s taste for this sort of thing. _Ugh_.” She made a show of shuddering and without warning pushed Sky backwards so the smaller woman sprawled unceremoniously on her backside. Before she could recover, Avaris was looming over her, that cold smile freezing Sky in place and her boot planting itself squarely on Sky’s chest, pressing her down into the hard marble. The dam leaned casually on her bent knee, contemplating her trapped victim with an expression not unlike that which Thorin often fixed her with. “I doubt our King would put up with such shameless lies like what it tried to feed us a moment ago. Perhaps we should teach it a lesson?”  
Sky fought to keep her breathing even and her face blank as she frantically tried to figure out how to escape without having to suffer repercussions later on. The dwarves would never let her get away with harming their women, in addition to the fact she was beginning to question whether or not she would even be able to fight them if she tried. Avaris was formidable. She moved with the deadly grace and balance of an experienced warrior, despite her flamboyant appearance. The weight she was already resting on Sky’s chest made it ache and she could distinctly feel the power hidden beneath all those layers of fabric. Dwarves were built like tanks and their women, it would seem, were no different.  
Sky couldn’t hold back her groan of pain as Avaris increased the pressure exponentially. Much more and she thought her rib cage might collapse.

“Or it could tell the truth.”

“I _did_!” Sky ground out, struggling to breathe now. She felt the shift of the dam’s body and tensed in preparation for the agony she knew was about to come….  
A gruff voice cut into Sky’s fading consciousness and the excruciating weight disappeared. She instinctively rolled onto her side, coughing and gasping in air as her body got to work restoring much needed oxygen to her system.  
The newcomer stood somewhere above Sky’s head. She warily attempted to look toward them, but all she could see from her position were a pair of boots, trousers and a dark green tunic embroidered around the edge with golden thread. Two large hands dusted with brown hair were clasped in front of the crotch. It was a dwarf and though he sounded respectful, his tone was almost grave and held a note of warning in it. Avaris snapped something at him and Sky saw the hands raise slightly as he shrugged and replied calmly. There was a moment of silence, then a steady swishing of skirts as Avaris stormed off down the hall, her two cronies following close behind. Sky watched them go, heaving a sigh of relief once they rounded the corner before gingerly lifting herself up to clamber unsteadily to her feet. She braced herself on the wall briefly, then turned to see who her saviour was and to thank him. Her gratitude died in her throat as she scanned the empty gallery in confusion. It was long, the other end of the corridor they had all been standing in. Very long. It should have been impossible for him to be gone so soon and she hadn’t even heard him move.  
Yet she was unmistakably alone.

The dwarf seemed to have literally vanished into thin air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review and let me know what you thought. Help me learn and develop.  There are some very interesting scenes and situations and a major beat change in relationships coming up soon. I can’t wait to see how it plays out myself…. Skywolf, over and out.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER – MENTIONS OF SUICIDE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all!! Sorry for the wait. Here’s a nice, relatively long chapter for you to make up for it. Thanks go to the amazing Wockerjabi for all the soundboarding and editing she has helped me with so far and for this chapter, as well as Dragonfyre18 for creating Sky’s winter dress and for her own input on various sections here. I hope it’s good and that the story continues to improve. Let me know in a review. Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers who have taken the time to tell me their thoughts and help me grow as a writer. A thousand thank yous to Vargavinter, who was good enough to allow me to use two of her awesome characters from her ‘Dwarf Gold’ series in a cameo in this chapter. I really hope I managed to do them justice. Just keep in mind they are cameos in a very different world to ‘Dwarf Gold’ and there is only so much one writer can do with another writer’s characters.  
> Enjoy. 

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Sky was bored.

Not bored as in the way most people feel bored, when there are literally millions of options available to them but they don’t want to do anything but hate not doing anything never-ending-cycle kind of bored.  
Sky was bored as in the way people feel bored when literally all they are allowed to do is sleep, eat and fuck at the whim of two other people, one of them nothing short of a terrifying psychopath who might just kill her at any second in some horrible, painful way when he himself eventually got bored of fucking.  
She might literally die from boredom. How pitifully sad. And terribly annoying….

Sky had yet to finish even one of the Westron tomes Fili had found for her the week before, however, since her rather unpleasant encounter with the nobledams, Sky had felt reluctant to wander the halls in that section, let alone go into the library itself. And so it was that reading had been struck off her list of available activities once again, and she was left sorely wanting for mental stimulation. She had taken to haunting the halls at night and sleeping during the day, waking whenever the King or younger prince required her services before sleepily washing off their fluids and scent and climbing back into bed.

The corridors were freezing most of the time, and Sky was grateful for the thicker winter dress Lasl had brought up as she had said she would. It was more in the dwarvish custom and make, with a full skirt and a simple high neck top, and the detail of a faux tunic complete with ties. It even had a fur trimmed hood, complete with veil so she could remove it when commanded. The sleeves were long and, like the hood, capped at the wrist with the softest of rabbit’s fur. It was a dark rich brown with hints of sable. The only real adornment on the entire gown was the intricate gold embroidery imitating and representing the gold consort cuff she still consistently wore on her arm beneath the garment; Thorin’s mark was to be displayed clearly at all times.

The upper levels of the Mountain were typically lit by wall sconces and ceiling lanterns just like most other areas Sky had seen. Yet in some of the more remote places, the young woman had happened across what appeared to be wide rays of weak moonlight spotting the floor and illuminating the tiny dust motes dancing in the air. The beams were in straight lines down their respective corridors and spaced out quite precisely. Sky had looked up to see perfectly carved shafts leading to what appeared to be a tilted mirror at the top of each, reflecting light presumably from another mirror in another chute adjacent. This method evidently allowed them to direct natural light from outside into the mountain, without it being lost as a result of the length and angle of the aperture they would need to have dug from outside to inside.  
It would probably be even more beautiful during the day.

During her wanderings, Sky had made a number of interesting discoveries. One of them had been the enormous, empty chamber she had entered – quite by accident – through a little side door. There were no real furnishings other than the intricate tapestries hanging from the galleries above and reaching to the ground where she stood. The floor was entirely bare. A ballroom perhaps? She had paused to scan the room, especially the grand double doors at one end, and listened carefully to ensure there was no one else there. Then she curtsied to an imaginary partner and spread her arms, taking the position for a waltz. It was strange making any movement backward at first in the floor-length dress, but she managed to only fall on her backside once or twice before she had the hang of it again. Moving forward was simpler, as the waltz required her to step with her toes anyway, kicking slightly at the hem of her skirts and moving them out of the way. In her mind the room was filled with people in lavish outfits, torches lighting up the entire space as other figures chatted, watched and danced themselves. Her partner’s gentle blue eyes smiled down at her and a soft and oddly familiar voice drifted over her ears as he said something….

She had stopped after a few minutes when that annoying little voice reminded her that they would perform different dances in the Mountain, and she would most certainly not be taking part. The illusion came crashing down and she was once again a tiny, lonely figure in a dark and empty ballroom. A room she would no doubt never be welcome in.  
Sky had left swiftly, not looking back.

On a different night, she had discovered a much smaller chamber with soft armchairs, and fur rugs spread over the cold flagstones. A fireplace squatted at the end to the left of the entrance, and a large golden harp dominated the centre of the room. Sky had entered and closed the door behind her, fumbling with the flint and striking-steel resting on a sideboard by the door until she managed to light one of the torches in its sconce. Lifting it out, she warily explored her surroundings. On the opposite wall, several instruments somewhat resembling violins rested on their mounted stands, their bows hung beside them. A music room then. Most likely exclusively used by the royal family. A lute rested against the side of one of the armchairs, carelessly left there by whomever had played it last. Kili immediately came to mind and she rolled her eyes; it would be so like him. She debated finding where it belonged and putting it back, then decided it to be too risky. The room hadn’t been mentioned by Balin as one of the ‘forbidden’ places, but it paid to be cautious. It was unlikely her presence would be tolerated.

Finally, she had had enough. Thorin or no Thorin, she had to find something else to do. Something productive. Technically something which would break a number of major rules on deeper reflection. Unfortunately, there was simply nothing available in the Thorin-approved department, and Sky knew she had to at least case her surroundings at some point if she ever wanted to rescue the girls and escape. She tried not to think about what would happen if she was caught, focusing instead on persuading Lasl to assist her.

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“No.”

“Lasl, please….”

“Pardon my saying it Miss, but I think you have clearly gone mad already, so I see absolutely no point in this venture.”

Lasl busied herself cleaning up the mess around the fireplace which Sky had created as an excuse for the maid to come outside of her usual beginning and end of the day schedule. Her story had been that she had tried to start the fire herself and a log rolled out, taking around half the bed of ashes with it. Lasl had taken one look, closed the door and asked what Sky actually wanted her for. So far, she had shut down every one of Sky’s ideas and requests, even after Sky stated she would go mad if cooped up much longer. It was simply too dangerous in Lasl’s eyes.

"Lasl...." Sky rubbed an eyebrow for a moment, thinking carefully. "I realise this doesn't put only me at risk. I understand what I'm asking you to do is probably even more dangerous for you than anything I plan on doing once I'm out there." The older woman turned to face her with an expectant look as she waited for Sky to continue. "But I just.... You're my only chance. There is no way I'll get anywhere near the Middle Levels, let alone the Kitchens, looking like this," she gestured at her dress and the embroidered cuff on its sleeve helplessly. "With generic slave wear from this level, I might be able to pull it off. Though I'll need some kind of cloak with a hood to hide my face." She added, the thought only occurring to her then. "The veil is a dead giveaway—"

"Sk- Miss, please stop. I am aware of your frustration. But, leaving my own safety out of the equation for a moment, are you really sure you want to risk this? It is not like your night-time jaunts. Yes, I know about those," Lasl sighed in response to Sky's surprised expression. "If you want to avoid being detected, you'll need to do it during the day. A cloaked slave from any level moving about at night would be regarded with suspicion. In the wakeful hours they will simply assume you are working and leave you alone. But then there is the risk of everyone else out and about on their own errands...."

“There is always a risk to anything we do in life, Lasl!” Sky snapped, then bit her tongue in frustration, watching her maid’s eyes harden as she turned away, posture stiff. There would be no convincing her now. Sky was on her own. Still, she continued her train of thought, doubtful it would be of much use. “I could choke on my breakfast tomorrow and die before I got help. If the balcony didn’t have that grate in front, I’d risk trying to climb out –”

“Why do you think it was made inaccessible in the first place? Not because you might escape; you can’t. The King had it grated after one of his consorts before you threw herself over the edge.”

Sky froze as Lasl spoke in a grave tone. The maid was still working at cleaning up the floor by the hearth, her movements agitated.

“Fuck.”

She had difficulty trying to comprehend just how bad things must have been for such a drastic action. And whether or not she might end up considering it. The thought of life being so bad she would rather fall to her death than attempt to hold on in hopes of improvement frightened her more than the idea of the demise itself. What had Thorin _done_ to that woman? She spent the rest of the day thinking and pacing. Lasl finished within the hour and left again with a warning to be more careful in future. Her words held a clear double meaning, which was not lost on Sky, though she brushed them away with a huff.

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The next day also proved to be futile in regards to obtaining Lasl’s assistance. And the day after that. It seemed no amount of begging, pleading or even crying would move Sky’s maid to help her in her venture. Not for lack of sympathy, she was sure. Lasl had shot her many a pitying glance during her visits, but she was afraid for herself, understandably. Sky would not get away from Thorin unscathed were he to find out, but Lasl would most assuredly meet a fate far worse than Thorin’s bed slave, being of no physical value in his eyes the way Sky seemed to be. As had been pointed out continuously, Lasl would be putting herself at risk more than Sky, simply by helping her in a manner not approved of by the King. Sky understood her refusal, but that made it no less frustrating.

Finally, she became desperate enough to pull out her reserve tactic. It was a low move and she certainly wasn’t proud of it, but self-pride was hardly of much use to her in her current situation anyway. She waited until after her evening bath, then leant against the door watching her maid finish up. She had purposely left more work for the poor woman throughout the day, and if she was honest with herself there was nothing but pettiness driving her actions. She really needed a better distraction; something mentally stimulating.

As Lasl made her way over to the exit, Sky casually asked, “Are there any children of our kind working in the Upper Levels, Lasl? Just wondering….”  
Lasl frowned, “What are you planning now?”

“It’s a simple question, please answer it.”

“Miss, what are you planning? Not to manipulate their naivety to obtain something your size I would hope?”

Sky shrugged. She’d been hoping to melodramatically beat around the bush, but as usual Lasl saw right through her. “I’m not getting a decent disguise any other way, because _someone_ I know – who I am sure could figure out a way of sneaking it in, and working with my knowledge of the guard’s rosters to get both of us out again – keeps refusing to have anything to do with my plans to keep my sanity intact.”

Lasl crossed her arms and stared down her nose at Sky, quite in the literal sense as she was easily over a foot taller than the now-tiny younger woman. “I do not believe you would stoop so low as to force my hand by endangering a child. You are better than that.”

 _‘Now we’re both fighting dirty,’_ Sky thought with grudging admiration. “You seemed happy enough to take my snowflake etching,” she countered. “There was a lot of danger in that; what could it hurt to risk just a little more?” This was rather a foolish question ultimately, as they knew equally just how much it could hurt when failing meant Thorin’s undivided attention; Lasl as a result of witnessing and Sky, from extremely unpleasant experience. Lasl must have been thinking the same thing, for she raised one eyebrow incredulously, though she didn’t argue aloud. Sky sensed the ball was still in her court and tried the gentler approach again.

“Lasl…. I am going to become so desperate soon, I will run down those levels and keep running until they stop me by force. Then Thorin will _definitely_ know and I will be severely punished. If you help me, I have a chance of staying mentally sound for longer _and_ escaping the repercussions. I have some ideas for how we can keep your involvement a secret in the event I’m discovered. Just hear me out.”

A weighty stillness fell over the room.

“Alright,” Lasl finally said with a heavy sigh. “If you can come up with a plan I can follow and remain anonymous as your cohort…. I will see what I can do.” Forgetting herself in her joy, Sky threw her arms around her maid’s waist and hugged her tightly. Lasl gasped and struggled within the smaller woman’s tight embrace, trying frantically to push her away. Sky reluctantly let go.

“Sorry.”

“I need to tend to Lord Balin now. Think of something and I shall let you know if I think it is feasible.” Lasl’s speech was abrupt and hurried, and she was out the door before Sky could draw breath to tease her about how close she and Balin appeared to be nowadays. She always blushed in the most amusing way when asked about it in the privacy of Sky’s chambers. Sky shook her head with a grin, then sat down to plan.

There had to be a way…. 

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It was surprisingly simple, at least to Sky’s stimulation-starved mind, to put together a strategy which appeared as though it would run like clockwork. Part of her worried it was too simple and she was missing something, but after repeated failures to discover the problem her gut seemed certain was there, she gave up and ignored it. After outlining it to her maid, her co-conspirator had been dubious but willing to give it a try.

Over the following days, Lasl brought a spare brown winter dress and drab hooded cloak, hidden in with clean bedding, to be altered during her time in Sky’s chambers. A child slave accompanied her and did all her usual duties other than bathing Sky and emptying the chamber pot; the latter task Lasl performed after hiding the partially finished garments under the bed, as she had to be accompanied by the door guard in order to have the grate opened. Now Sky understood why, she had to drag her thoughts away from the frightening revelation whenever she looked at the balcony.

The child was an efficient worker and rather embarrassingly the exact same height as Sky, at a mere twelve years of age. Sky had attempted to make a self-deprecating joke about her own diminutive figure to lighten the atmosphere, as Pella looked rather uneasy being in the Royal Consort’s chambers, but Lasl had interrupted her by giving the little girl an order before sending Sky a warning shake of the head. It was difficult to restrain the desire to interact, as Sky had always enjoyed working with children and felt a strong need to bring a bit of joy and fun into Pella’s life. Her childhood had to have been either too brief or non-existent, and the thought made Sky simultaneously sad for her and angry at the Khazad. But Lasl clearly thought it was too dangerous, so Sky reluctantly listened and kept any contact with the girl minimal.

Sky had often kept her door slightly ajar ever since it had stopped being bolted so she could watch and time the movements of her guards, in the event the information might become useful to her. And indeed it had. The progress of other aspects in the plan was slower than Sky would have liked but also steady. She used the week long preparations to adjust her data when she realised her usual method of keeping time in regards to the rotating sentries – which involved a crude sundial of sorts created by the grate and the sparse furnishings inside – was affected slightly by the change of seasons. The heavy snowfall also raised the shadow cast by a spur of the Mountain when hit by the elusive sunlight. Sky couldn’t remember the last time she had seen the Sun. Certainly not since she had taken up ‘residence’ in Erebor. The position of her chambers just didn’t allow the rays to make it to the single opening in the mountain face which made up her disused balcony.

They had been interrupted once or twice by Thorin, which had been terrifying to say the least. Luckily, Sky had seen his approach the first time whilst updating her knowledge of the guard schedule and had frantically gestured to Lasl with a cutting motion of one hand across her throat. The maid had roughly folded and shoved both the dress and the cloak along with her sewing supplies under the divan, just in time as the King swept through the door. The only thing missing was the actual sound of fanfare, Sky had thought dryly as Thorin ordered the two maids to leave and herded her into the torture/bed chamber.  
Lasl had almost backed out of the entire thing after that, and it took Sky mentioning that they were already halfway and insisting that she would keep watch at all times from then on before the shaken woman agreed.

Finally, preparations were finished and the day arrived. Sky couldn’t eat. Her stomach was roiling and wouldn’t settle, so both her morning and afternoon meals sat untouched on the side board. She’d offered the food to Lasl, but the maid had made a face and given the younger woman a look that seemed to say _‘you honestly think my digestive system is behaving any better?’_ They waited apprehensively for the guards to change over. The idea was that the dwarves didn’t report the unremarkable comings and goings of the servers to each other, so the replacement guard – who had become used to Pella’s presence according to Sky’s plan – wouldn’t bat an eyelid at the sight of a child-sized figure following Lasl out when Pella hadn’t actually entered in the first place. They had agreed that it was safer than leaving the real child in Sky’s chambers to be discovered by Thorin. Pella had been kept as oblivious as possible in regards to the plan in the event she was questioned. Lasl had merely told her she could have the day off to do other errands, to which Sky had dryly commented wasn’t technically a day off and was promptly shot a stern look from Lasl. She couldn’t remember when exactly the perceived power-balance had shifted, but she didn’t care. As she herself had pointed out, without her maid, she wouldn’t stand a chance in this endeavour.

Lasl was looking through the slightly ajar door and nudged Sky to get her attention, holding up a finger to indicate that stage one was complete. This meant the guards had changed over and it was time to start preparing for their exit. Lasl helped her into the brown dress and cloak, pulling up the hood before dumping a pile of laundry over her out-stretched arms and arranging the fabric to cover the exposed parts of her face. Once she was out, she would be relying on the anonymity the veil had been affording her the past few months in order to pass by Erebor’s population without being recognised as Thorin’s consort. Or a consort at all, hopefully. Her heart was pounding in her chest as Lasl began to count quietly. They had decided to wait about ten minutes to allow the previous guard to get far enough away that they wouldn’t bump into him. The maid raised two fingers and motioned them forward. Sky took a deep breath and released it slowly as the door was opened and they filed out.

It almost went off without a hitch. Almost.

Sky was having difficulty seeing and came very near to dropping her load a few times as walls made it their business to sidle closer to her than was proper. The guard evidently noticed as he called out to them when they were several metres short of Kili’s door and began to clank in their direction. They both froze, Lasl turning and dropping a curtsey to the dwarf as he pulled up beside them. “Can we be of assistance, sir?”

“I could not help but notice your urchin cannot see very well. Poor thing will fall down the first flight of stairs you come across, mark my words. Here, allow me….”

Sky’s heart stopped dead as the cloth was moved until the helmeted head of the guard was visible. He was about Fili’s height so he was looking slightly down at her as he attempted to shift the laundry so her line of vision was no longer obscured. Unfortunately, that meant he was staring right at her face. Sky saw a pair of vivid green eyes, then dropped her own to the ties of her cloak, holding her breath as she waited for him to drag her right back into her chambers, bolt the door and report her to Thorin. But when he was done, he merely stepped back, gave a nod of approval and waved them on with a gentle pat on her shoulder, returning to his post as though he’d noticed nothing amiss. Sky’s knees felt like liquid and her body rather wanted to collapse in relief. Once again, the hated veil had actually done her a service.

They paused once they had finally cleared the royal apartments, having found a darkened and deserted alcove where they stared at each other before releasing identical nervous laughs as the tension and fear began to dissipate. “Please don’t ever make me do this again,” Lasl begged, and Sky sobered immediately with a nod. Her maid took the pile of sheets and towels, walking away silently after pleading with Sky to be careful and to avoid making eye contact with anyone. Then Sky was alone, fidgeting in the hallway as she figured out where to go next. She was so used to the confines of the upper levels – except in the instances where Thorin had her sit by him in court which was held in the Throne Room on the middle levels – that she had no clue where to start. Eventually, she decided on just trying to continue moving down and keeping her eyes peeled for any escape routes she might find useful later. And of course, the original reason which was to find the kitchens and contact Leadawn. There had to be a way to get them all out.

Sky soon found herself caught up in a chattering group of other slaves carrying baskets as they followed at a respectful distance behind a group of nobledams and what appeared to be a few dwarflings, clinging to their mothers’ skirts. They were absolutely adorable and Sky smiled as one of them jumped up against the side of a wall in an attempt to touch the bottom of one of the beautiful gold lamps lining the hallway they were traversing. They weren’t all that different to human children; she herself remembered making competitions to see who could leap high enough to make contact with hanging tree branches and other suspended objects in her own early youth. Hell, she still did it. Or at least she had back when she was free. Her thoughts turned to Pitha, wondering how she was faring in a bustling kitchen of a size required to feed all the nobility. She hoped she was being treated fairly and hadn’t gotten into any accidents. A vague memory of watching a group of Heath children with Leadawn for the day whilst their parents worked in the fields gathering in some of the harvest – mere weeks before the fateful battle – sprang to her mind. Pitha had been among them at the time, she was sure. The little girl was rather shy and tended to only go to Leadawn when called, eyeing Sky with constant distrust. ‘ _And so she should,’_ Sky thought bitterly as the group she had nondescriptly attached herself to the back of moved through a large guarded archway. _‘I couldn’t help them, and now she’s probably suffering multiple cuts and burns at far too young an age, all without her mother. She must be so scared and confused.’_

Sky bumped into something and she was dragged roughly from her thoughts as the dam she had collided with cursed her and shoved her to one side, growling, “Watch where you are going, Man-filth!” Sky grit her teeth and muttered an apology, bowing quickly then dodging a dwarf with a cart coming from the other direction. That was when she finally noticed how busy it had gotten.

Sky was in a marketplace.

The sights and sounds were overwhelming and Sky staggered to one side of the thoroughfare, standing stock still by a stall selling what looked to be medieval-style kebabs, interestingly enough, as she tried to take it all in and make sense of her surroundings. She was in an enormous cavern, with rows upon rows of stalls and stands and roads between them for as far as she could see. The diverse groups of people from both races milling around in front of her on that one road alone was distracting and she had difficulty making any sort of sense from the chaos around her. The colours blurred and separated, the noise swelled and rolled, the smells of various food stalls intermingled and made her feel like throwing up. She was once again thankful for opting out of eating that day. She grasped the pole of the stand beside her as the earth seemed to sway a little beneath her feet. She was on the verge of a panic attack, she realised blearily, and tried to focus on taking deep breaths, struggling to ignore the sickening blend of scents invading her nostrils as she did so. Suddenly, an all too familiar tenor cut clearly through the babble and Sky froze.

"There you are! Mahal's Beard, I have been waiting for you for hours!"

_'Please no, not him. Not anyone, please.... Please be talking to someone else. I just want a day to myself.... He’ll be so angry with me, I know he will.'_

Sky turned slightly to see him already too close and tried to straighten up and keep walking, however he reached her too quickly and took her by the arm, gently but firmly pulling her along behind him as he navigated through the crowd to the edge of the main thoroughfare.

"I told you to meet me by the East entrance. And I was expecting you at Noon. So what do you do? You enter some other way and wander the market place until it is late afternoon!" His voice was just a little too loud, as though he were trying to subtly broadcast their supposed agreement, which of course was utter nonsense, over the noise of the marketplace. They hadn't arranged anything at all and Sky had no idea why he was behaving this way. But the grip on her arm tightened, and she met his blue eyes sheepishly only to see them widen very briefly in the universal expression for 'play along'.

And then she understood.  
He thought he was saving her ass yet again, though from what exactly she had no clue. No guards had come to escort her back. Nothing had happened to make her think anyone else was aware of her disobedience. She could see no one in the crowd who would need to witness and hear Fili's words in order to dismiss her own forbidden behaviour as something she had been ordered to do. He had deliberately drawn attention to them to inform everyone around that she was meant to be there but had gotten lost. Why? There was evidently something he was aware of that she wasn't and he had never led her wrong yet. Trusting him had always been to her benefit since her capture, so she kept her mouth shut and head bowed, trailing meekly in his wake once he released her arm. Fili slipped into Khuzdul as he spoke to himself in an annoyed manner, loudly enough for others nearby to hear if they wished to listen. Sky presumed he was still keeping up the pretense of the vexed noble, nodding distractedly to dwarves, dams and slaves bowing, curtsying or crouching as he passed. She ignored them and kept her eyes on the back of his wine red cloak. The colour really did suit him.

They passed stall after stall and moved down a few narrow stone alleys of a sort into other caverns also filled with the same brightly coloured canopies and stands covered in merchandise. She supposed the cloth roofs were for show as there wasn't exactly any chance for rain underground, and indeed, many of the vendors simply had a number of simple yet beautiful rugs spread and overlapping on the cave floor, the items they were selling laid out in rows with little aisles between them so potential buyers could walk through and look without stepping on anything.

Some of the shops were actually carved into the rock walls around the edges, designating them as more permanent businesses. Fili crossed the wide floor towards one of them, Sky trying to catch a glimpse of all the pretty jewellery, clothing and odd things she had no name for and no time to scrutinise and figure out, whilst simultaneously doing her best to keep up as they walked through at a rather stiff pace. It would be hard to lose him come to think of it, as his unusual hair - for a dwarf - stood out against the sea of browns, reds, blacks, greys and whites, in addition to the great wave of sorts happening in the crowds as he moved, the individuals around him paying their respects to the Crown Prince. She didn't dare stop to admire anything properly however, remembering his earlier indication that they were being watched.

Finally, they reached what appeared to be a blacksmith of sorts next to another permanent shop displaying animal pelts and various forms of clothing and leatherwork. Fili muttered her name softly to get her attention, which had been riveted on a frankly gorgeous waist-length fur coat hanging on the wall inside, and flicked his head subtly toward the bench he was already standing at in front of the blacksmith. She reluctantly moved to wait at his side and half-listened to the brief discussion he held in Khuzdul with a burly dwarf who looked as though he himself had been carved from the rock, his features were so angular and hardened.

In a few moments Sky found herself holding a beautiful pair of matched daggers in odd-looking sheaths as Fili withdrew a money pouch and placed a number of gold coins on the bench. 'Rock' shook his head then said something quietly with a bow before pushing the money toward Fili, who raised his eyes skyward and started up a new conversation, this time involving a lot of head shaking and hand waving of the gently refusing kind from both of them with the occasional smile on the other dwarf's end. Finally, they seemed to come to an agreement and Fili sighed as he gathered up a few of the coins and returned them to the pouch. The smith grinned and muttered something else, sliding more of the money toward Fili but the blond dwarf replied in a very firm tone and pushed them back. Rock bowed deeply and spoke some words Sky had observed were regularly used to convey gratitude, then Fili had a hand on her lower back and was gently directing her to the store adjacent. She found it incredibly difficult to resist leaning into the touch as it sent what felt similar to an electric current throughout her body from their point of contact. This was ridiculous; what was wrong with her?

"And what can we do for you today, _your highness_?"

The snarky tone brought Sky's focus back to the shop, surprised any of the dwarves would speak to Fili like that. Then she saw it was not a dwarf, but rather a small human girl. Probably a little older than Pella, though of a more diminutive size interestingly enough. Her lip was curled slightly as she stared challengingly up at the prince. Fili's moustache braids twitched, but he ignored her words.  
"I would like to talk to your sister, please."

"She's busy," came the snappish reply.

"No, I'm not," a voice called out from the back of the shop, and another figure appeared, placing a half-finished shirt sleeve on the bench before turning to Fili with a much friendlier attitude than her sibling. Sky was bemused to see that the woman, though possibly the same age as her, what with her overall appearance and mannerisms, was about the same height. She wasn't the only tiny human adult here after all. The younger girl scowled and slunk away to sit at the back somewhere Sky supposed, as she was certain she could see the dark shape stop moving and continue to watch them. "Apologies for my sister. _Again_." The woman glared behind her to emphasise the last word, then shot Fili a smile, "What brings you here today, m'lord?"

"Is your master around?"

She shook her head, "Not for several more hours I should think. Dead drunk, snoring in his bed upstairs."  
"Good." Fili seemed grimly pleased with this. "Then I'd like to have a look at that new belt you designed."

"Certainly m'lord." The woman rummaged around somewhere under the counter for a minute or so, retrieving a thick belt from beneath which looked as positively fearsome as it was beautiful. She began to point things out about the item and speak whilst Fili nodded and listened intently, asking questions from time to time which the woman answered, rather enthusiastically in Sky's opinion. She tuned the words out when she began noticing Fili's level of attention, the way his body and face both seemed more relaxed than they had before, watching the woman's face more often than he did the belt. For some reason it bothered her. She felt a twist in her gut and her vision blurred slightly. She turned to face the other direction and casually shifted the load in her arms so she could wipe her sleeve over her eyes to get rid of the odd moisture there, hoping absentmindedly that the garment was relatively clean. She couldn't remember asking where exactly Lasl had obtained it.

"Sky." Fili's voice jolted her from her thoughts and she numbly reached out to take the belt he gently laid over the top of the daggers. Then he handed over a number of coins which the woman counted carefully before separating two of the coins and glancing meaningfully at them. Fili sighed, "He doesn't feed you well enough. Buy yourselves something from the market." She seemed about to refuse, then evidently thought better of it after a look over her shoulder at the barely visible outline of the little girl at the back.  
"Very well. Enjoy your belt, m'lord."

"Thank you, Hannah." The smile which spread across his face whilst saying those words was painfully beautiful, and the twist turned into a sharper stab. Sky swallowed against the lump in her throat and tried to silence the nasty thoughts which began to rise in her mind, all involving the other slave. He was just being polite; her reaction was bordering on insane and she had to wonder if perhaps her lack of sleep lately was catching up to her. And besides, if he did choose to flirt with the store holder's assistant, who was she to complain? He could do what he liked, it was hardly any of her business.

The trip back to the upper levels was uneventful and silent. Fili didn’t speak to her and she sensed anything from her own end would be rebuffed. His stride was stiff and it seemed as though he was also actively avoiding looking at her. She caught herself throwing furtive glances behind them every now and then, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. A few other dwarves were also going their way and they were all keeping to themselves. A thick fur coat swung open on one of them further down the hall for a moment, and Sky thought she saw a flash of green with gold stitching, but she shook it off as her imagination. The dwarf himself looked pompous and important, with excessively fancy beard and hair, which he had to consistently brush away from the official documents he was studying intently as he walked. Someone like that would not have taken any notice of a group of dams tormenting a slave. And most certainly would not have been able to disappear like her saviour. His appearance was frankly rather ridiculous.

To her confusion, instead of escorting her to her chambers, Fili took hold of her shoulder and steered her into his own, giving a nod to the guards as he passed.  
Sky blinked several times to acclimatise her eyes to the sheer amount of light in the room, compared to the rest of the Mountain. The source of it became clear quite quickly and she did a double take when she saw the sheer number of lit candles, all at various stages of melt. A large box rested just inside the door, stacked to the brim with fresh ones. Nearly every surface which could hold them was covered in the waxy burning sticks. The hearth was cold, but at least half a dozen candles flickered on the mantle. The rest of the sizeable living area seemed similar to his brother’s and her own, if slightly more lavish. Most of the room was carpeted in soft, warmly coloured rugs, somewhat reminding her of the market again, with a large black bear skin laid out near the fireplace. A door in the corner most likely lead to his own washroom, but it was closed. A very large desk just like Kili’s stood against the back wall, adjacent to a single yet wide bookshelf which took up the remainder of the wall space. It was filled with books, though that was hardly surprising. If nothing else, it seemed they shared the same hunger for knowledge.

“Put those things on the desk.” Fili’s tone was cool and businesslike as he unfastened the clasp at his throat, hanging the cloak on a hook near the door before removing his gloves and placing them on a sideboard. Sky obeyed the order, trying not to look through the open door on her left, leading to what she assumed was his bedchamber. When she turned around, he was standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed, eyeing her sternly. She felt smaller than ever under that gaze and shifted nervously. After what seemed like an eternity, he took a deep breath and released it very slowly. “Do you remember what I said to you in the library a fortnight ago?”  
Sky swallowed and nodded.

“Then can you kindly explain to me why it was that I found you wandering a middle level market place armed with nothing but a rather poor disguise to hide you and the hope no one would recognise your face?” A hint of steel laced his voice now, and suddenly she wished he would go back to the cool and indifferent one he normally used. It was certainly the less frightening of the two. “That was not a rhetorical question. I do expect an answer,” he gritted when the pause grew too long. “I was bored,” she said quietly, though he clearly heard her as his eyebrows shot up into his hairline.

“Bored? That is your excuse for putting your maid’s _life_ in danger? Your selfish actions will lead directly back to her.”

“How did you–”

“It is not much of a stretch to figure out exactly how you got a hold of a uniform your size, Sky. If I can put that information together, so can Thorin! Think!”

“I’m sorry!” Now she really did feel utterly worthless and indeed, incredibly selfish. She hated being the cause of his disappointment and felt tears prickling her eyes. “’Sorry’ does not erase what your Shadow has seen today,” Fili growled, voice lowering in tone as he shot a look at the door. “I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was under the now clearly false impression that you had more sense than that.” Sky was distracted suddenly as her brain clung onto and mulled over his odd use of the word ‘shadow’. “What’s a ‘Shadow’?”

'Fili sighed heavily and moved to sit down on his divan, waving an arm at the place beside him; Sky lowered herself into the space but was careful to leave a large gap between them, still hurting for some strange reason about his surely drastically decreased opinion of her, if his previous words and tone were anything to go by. “Did you honestly never think it was strange that no guards tailed you after you were released from your chambers? Never wondered how Thorin knew so quickly you were in the library that day?” He levelled a questioning gaze at her and she shrugged, feeling as dense as he had to be thinking she was right then. “From the second you were given that freedom,” Fili continued, ignoring her soft snort at his use of the word ‘freedom’, “you were being followed. Every moment you spend outside of your chambers is monitored, and reported if you break any rules or go into forbidden places. Or leave the upper levels without permission as you did today.” He waited for the information to sink in and she felt her heart drop as everything started to make more sense. Thorin’s almost omniscient knowledge of her movements throughout each day, and Fili’s odd behaviour in the market. He _had_ been acting for the crowd, or rather, someone in specific. Someone hidden _in_ the crowd and whom she hadn’t known was there; who was trailing her and watching her in her act of disobedience.

A Shadow.

And Fili’s amazing web of lies spun and spoken clearly and confidently without a second thought, hoping the Shadow would think the Crown Prince had actually ordered Sky to meet him there, had possibly saved her yet again. How he planned to convince his uncle of the finer details, such as why she had gone in disguise and why she had arrived alone in order to get lost in the first place was beyond her, but if anyone could do it, it was him.

“How many of these… Shadows… are there?”

Fili shrugged, “I am unaware of the number, but I do know that it is a sizeable network of previous criminals who Nori, their leader, had released from the dungeons whilst awaiting trial and put into his service. He trains them then assigns them as the King sees fit. Some are there with their assigned dwarf’s knowledge, and act as invisible body guards of a sort. Others are sent to tail their quarries in secret, reporting their every move straight back to the King. Every consort Thorin has ever had has been shadowed by one of Nori’s ilk. You may sometimes hear of Nori himself spoken of as the King’s Shadow.”

“And he protects the King, I assume,” Sky said. “Aye,” Fili nodded, “though really he is somewhat superfluous in the role, as the Elite Guard would stop any attack long before it came close enough that Nori would need to step in. My brother alone is enough to protect our King from a small army.” He smiled softly, though once again it wasn’t directed at her and her gut gave that odd little twist. “They are highly skilled fighters for the most part and the lower ranks are often used as law enforcement and peacekeepers in areas where guards are noticeable and too easily outmanoeuvred by the criminal element. Shadows can move largely unseen and have various secret techniques they use to blend in with crowds and otherwise appear relatively nondescript to those they are tailing or trying to capture. There are some accounts of them supposedly disappearing like wraiths and many believe they are demons in Khazad form, which is foolish as they are as mortal as you or I, but I suppose those not privy to the information I have could easily believe something like that.”

Silence fell for several moments, Sky watching the flickering motion of the flames burning away the wicks of the candles on the mantelpiece. “You do realise….” Fili trailed off as though changing his mind about whatever it was he wanted to say, his brow pinched slightly in thought, then he continued. “You do realise that every time you rebel and I step in to save you from severe punishment, the blame is placed on my shoulders and I suffer the consequences? The sheer amount of lying I will need to do when your Shadow makes his report to Thorin….” The blond shook his head and rubbed his hands over his face with a drawn out sigh, then fixed her with an intense stare. “I would appreciate it if you began to think outside of your own needs and wants from now on. Start considering how your decisions impact the people around you. You cannot survive here by yourself, Sky. Left to your own devices, you would be dead by now.”

He held her gaze for a moment as he let that sink in. Sky would have given anything to have a hole swallow her up right then. She had indeed been foolish and self-centred. And despite her questioning why Fili bothered rescuing her at all, let alone continuously, she could see the logic in his words. Continuing to put herself in danger by defying the King didn’t just affect her. Whether she was helped or not, Thorin would most likely take out his anger on others too, knowing how much worse it could be having someone else punished for her crimes. As grateful as she was for his interference, Sky berated herself for prompting Fili to step into the firing line yet again. It must have seemed to him like she was throwing all his efforts and his suffering at Thorin’s hand for her back in his face. No wonder he wanted nothing to do with her.

“I’m sorry,” was all she could say, and by the tightness in his shoulders and mouth, it was clear that a mere apology was not enough.

However, before she could figure out a better response, a loud pounding broke the tension and Fili ordered the knocker to enter. Dwalin’s huge frame stood in the doorway. He growled something to the Crown Prince, who replied in a rather short fashion before rising and motioning Sky to do the same. Dwalin raced off down the corridor and Fili propelled Sky out the door and towards her chambers, calling a flurry of orders, first to his own guards and then to Sky’s. She stumbled into her living quarters and turned quickly to catch him before he left, ignoring his surprised glance at her hand wrapped around his forearm. “What’s going on?”

Rather than shake her off as she’d expected, Fili gently disengaged himself and gave her hand a quick squeeze as he answered simply, “Orcs. Stay here.”

Then he was gone, and she could hear the bolt sliding into place with an ominous scrape.

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up, a major turn of events and some interesting times for our characters. :D Skywolf, over and out.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER – NONSEXUAL GRAPHIC VIOLENCE

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all. Here is another chapter for you. I worked on this one for a while actually, so I really hope you like it. Please, please, let me know in a review. I really do want to improve and I am grateful for all the reviews I have already received. Thank you every one of you who has reviewed and to all my readers who continue to read my story, even if you don’t review, thank you. Interestingly enough, I have never been that much of a Kili fan, though this chapter may make you think otherwise, Fili is still my favourite and always will be. Dark!Kili the way my muse wrote him is just… mildly more intriguing to me than most versions of Kili I have met here. I know I may be biased, but I’m allowed to be interested in my own characters right? Lol.  
> Anyway, read and I hope you enjoy. Let me know what you thought in a review.

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The battle raged on for almost three days.

Sky was locked in her chambers for the first two, anxiously awaiting any news. Lasl appeared not long after Fili left, informing Sky of the conflict outside the Mountain’s gates, assuring her that everything would be alright and that she’d be allowed out again soon. They were just precautions to keep her from escaping during the confusion. Her maid didn’t come back the next morning. Or in the afternoon, or the evening. Sky had gotten hungry finally and eaten the now stale plate of food which had been served for breakfast the day before.

On the afternoon of the second day, Sky heard clanging and shrieking outside her chambers in the hallway. It was some way off at first, but began to get closer. She knew that sound. If the guards were fighting, that meant the enemy had infiltrated and was likely pushing towards her own location. Fear twisted in her gut, and her first instinct was to look for a weapon, before she realised that if the orcs broke through, they would have had to get past all of the royal guards first. If they somehow managed to do that, then they had some kind of fighting advantage - either force of numbers or unusually high martial skill - that she would stand no chance against. So the next thing she thought of was to hide. But where? Under the bed was out, as was behind the curtains. Those would be the first places they looked. She couldn’t hide in the wet room either.

Her mind moved back into fight mode. She was inexperienced with facing armed warriors of any kind sans a weapon of her own, and most of the action she had seen in the battle at the Heath had been with the archers, shooting down enemies from a distance. She remembered one time when she was forced into fighting a brigand unarmed, when a group of bandits had attacked one of the villages she was staying in. She had only won then because she'd effectively used her surroundings to defeat him.

Her surroundings.

Sky’s eyes flicked back to the wet room and an idea began forming. A scream interrupted her thoughts and she whipped around in horror as she registered that the sounds of battle had reached her door. It was the first time she had ever felt remotely grateful for her guard. Or sorry for him. He seemed to be holding out well enough at that moment however, as the orcs still hadn’t burst into her chambers, so she took advantage of that and moved swiftly to prepare and carry out her course of action.

Inside the wet room, she grabbed the soap, wet it in the bath and slicked the floor by the single aperture thoroughly a few feet deep, then placed the remaining cake to one side of the entrance roughly at the position she estimated would be the most likely spot the first footfall would land. There was a stone pitcher on one of the carved shelves. She picked it up and retrieved a towel, then breathed slowly to try to calm her nerves in preparation for the attack.

It came rather swiftly.

Sky heard the main door to her chambers burst open and the orcs enter. They were growling to each other in their hideous tongue. She heard the curtains yanked open and her bed overturned with a crash, the sounds rather close together. That meant the threat was split between the living quarters and her bedchamber. Unless they regrouped before checking the room she was in, she would have time to deal with the first lot before taking on the next. Even a few seconds apart would give her a much needed advantage. She froze then forced herself to relax as the sound of heavy breathing drew closer to her hiding place. She had closed the door most of the way in the hopes that they would slam it open and surge forward without thinking.

That was almost exactly what happened.

The first Orc shrieked as it stepped on the soap and landed heavily on its back. Its comrade tripped over the body and sprawled face first in front of Sky. She wasted no time in bringing the pitcher down on the back of its skull; it jerked violently for a moment then went still. The mutilated abomination that followed was almost twice the size of its companions. It eyed her carefully, not rushing in like the others. Just standing there contemplatively. Then it calmly raised the crossbow at its side and she panicked, flicking the towel in the orc's face without hesitation, though the throw was wild and uncalculated. The orc batted it aside with a growl, but also jolted instinctively away from it, accidentally releasing the bolt which hit one of the glass bottles in the cubbies, shattering it before ricocheting off the stone behind and clattering to the floor. Then the orc was looking down in a bewildered fashion at a fire poker protruding from its stomach. It staggered backward and landed on top of the orc who had first entered, squashing the other creature and making it squawk in anger as it attempted to rise after recovering from hitting its head on the tiles.

Sky took a second to notice the slim figure of Lasl leaning against the door frame and panting, staring at her blood-covered hands as though they didn’t belong to her. The moment was interrupted however as the living orc wrapped its horrible claws around the maid's ankle and tugged, sending the poor woman crashing to the ground with a piercing cry of fear. Torn from her trance, Sky leapt into action, plucking up the pitcher again and scrambling over the slippery floor and the dead body of the large Orc to slam the vessel down as hard as she could on the surviving beast's head. It went limp with a gargle, and Lasl pried its fingers from her limb with a disgusted sob.  
They stared at each other for a moment, then simultaneously flung themselves into each other's arms, both weeping in relief. They stayed like that for several minutes, the consort and her maid, seeking solace and comfort in each other's presence.

After calming Lasl – and herself – Sky eased open the door to the hallway, glancing over the carnage there to check for any more danger. Nothing moved, except….

In front of her, the guard was sitting upright against the wall, his breath laborious as he clutched feebly at the quarrel protruding from his abdomen. Sky knelt and gently pulled off his helmet, reaching around to unfasten his gorget to help him breathe easier. Blood bubbled up through his lips and he coughed violently, groaning as it aggravated his wound. It was most likely mortal. She had seen enough of his kind of injury to be fairly certain he wouldn’t survive. But she still owed him this much, to make his passing as comfortable as possible. To give him company in the final moments.

“Thought…. Thought they killed you. Couldn’t stop them. I am sorry….” He spat more blood out as it congealed in his mouth, hindering his speech. She shook her head. “No need to apologise. You did save me in the end. You bought me the time I needed to prepare. They would have cut me down for sure if you hadn’t been here. I’m sorry this happened to you… it shouldn’t have.” The corners of his mouth twitched. “All in a day’s work,” he said. She smiled back, then used the tip of his fallen voulge to make a nick in the fabric at the bottom of her dress, tearing off a strip which she used to wipe away the blood around his lips. It was then that she truly noticed his eyes. A vivid green like the pastures of New Zealand; perhaps a shade or so darker. It was the dwarf who had almost discovered her the day before last. The dwarf who had cared whether or not a human child fell down the stairs because they couldn’t see properly for all the laundry piled in front of them. An odd sense of shame curled in her belly, and she found herself wishing it had been some other dwarf on guard that day. Then this one dying in front of her would have been assigned a different time and been somewhere else when the orcs had attacked.

“What’s your name?” Sky asked; she would be damned if he died for her without her ever knowing what he had been called. “Torgan,” he rasped, then coughed again. When he stopped, his breathing was even worse. He was on his way out. “I never learnt yours.”

For some reason, part of her wanted to tell Torgan her real name. Not the one she went by to avoid anyone having power over her, the way she had heard some people could in some worlds. It wasn’t like he could do her any harm by knowing it. So she leant in and whispered it in his ear. He seemed to sense the importance of the action; he gave her a nod and a tired smile. She settled on the ground beside him, then reached tentatively down to grasp one large, gauntleted hand and rested it in her lap. It closed around hers in return and held rather tightly; he was afraid, though he had been doing an excellent job at concealing it.

“That was a very… clever disguise the other day.”  
“Thank you. And thank you for assisting me with the washing.” She couldn’t help but smirk, and he grinned too, though it was brief. His strength was fading. “A privilege… my lady.” They both chuckled at that, though his was interrupted by a bout of wheezing. Perhaps his lung had been punctured. Silence descended on them for a minute or so, the only sound the occasional cough from Torgan once he got his breathing back under some semblance of control. A thought struck her; perhaps she could still repay him in some way. “Do you have any family? If I can contact them and tell them of your bravery and my gratitude, I will.”

“They may not take it well… They do not… share my views of your kind.”

Sky dabbed at his lips again to disguise her disappointment and frustration. What a pity. They would think less of their own kin because of who he had died for, rather than how. “Thank you… For staying with me,” he mumbled. Her heart sank a little when his breath began to come in shallow gasps, quickly at first, then slower and farther apart. She clutched his hand to her and held his gaze as his chest rose and fell one final time. Then the light behind those beautiful eyes dimmed, and they glazed over forever.

She was surprised to feel a soft ache spread through her, and she spent the next few minutes shedding quiet tears for the guard she hadn’t even known. It was the strangest sensation, but it also felt right.  
“Goodbye, Torgan,” she whispered, “and thank you.” Then she reached up and gently closed his eyelids.

When Sky rose, Lasl was standing in the doorway watching her. The maid turned away and dashed a hand quickly across her cheeks before facing Sky again. “What now?” she asked. Sky shrugged. “If they managed to get in here, odds are the Mountain has been overrun. I think the smartest course of action would be to grab what we can and try to find a way out of here. You would know an exit right?”

“Erebor hasn’t been overrun, Miss. I have no idea where these hideous beasts came from, but the King’s soldiers and the reinforcements from Dale were pushing the orc army back the last I heard. And that was only a few hours ago.” Sky frowned. “Then how did they get in….?”

“Sky.”

She looked at Lasl with a mildly startled expression. She had always been ‘Miss’, as per Thorin’s orders. This was new. Lasl grasped Sky’s hands and pulled them up to her own chest, and when she was sure she had Sky’s attention, she said, “You will never get another chance like this. I will take you as close to the Kitchens as I dare. Then I really must fly back to the Wall. I’m needed there to help Oin and I will be missed if I delay my return much longer. I cannot allow them any suspicions that will shorten the time you will need to find a way out. Take your friends and go. I wish you all the luck in the world.” Then she surprised Sky even further by drawing her into a fierce hug, which Sky barely had time to return before Lasl had broken the embrace again and was dragging her down the hall.

“Wait, Lasl.”

Sky halted them outside of Kili's chambers after picking their way over the corpses of a pair of orcs, trying not to look at the decapitated body of the former dwarf guard in front of the door. There was blood smeared across one of the wooden scenes, lending an air of macabre irony to the picture of the dead deer in the process of being skinned.  
“What are you doing?” Lasl hissed, glancing fearfully up the corridor. “I need something from here.” Swallowing, Sky placed a hand on the edge and pushed it open. It was dark inside, with only one torch lit over the stairwell with the warg head, and nearly everything was as she remembered it. It was best to be cautious, though in truth Kili's chambers always looked rather ransacked as if a pack of orcs had torn through in search of more victims, so it was hard to tell whether or not the invaders had actually entered the younger prince's rooms. “Stay outside. I won’t be long.”

“Scream if you need me.”

Sky snorted in amusement in response to Lasl’s half-hearted attempt at humour.

She felt around until she found the chair and tables. No weapons there. Sometimes he would leave the odd dagger out after sharpening, which would have been better than nothing. She really didn’t want to go down into the arena unless she had no other choice. It was dangerous; there could be orcs. Then again, there could be some in his bed chamber too, or even crouched over in the darkened area where she was standing right now. She took a deep breath and peered into the blackness. Surely if an enemy was immediately present, it would have attacked by now. Sky paused as her fingers brushed over soft fabric. She picked the pile up from where it had been draped on the back of a chair and carried it over into the torchlight by the stairs. The bundle consisted of a pair of brown trousers and an under-tunic in a nondescript grey. These would be better than the dress she was still wearing. She unbuckled the leather collar which featured on all her clothing, then walked back to the door to request Lasl’s assistance with the rest of the gown.

“Why are you undressing?”

“Those will be more practical,” Sky answered, nodding at the garments lying on the floor in front of her where she’d dropped them. The next moment, she was wearing Kili’s clothes and trying not to think about it, heading back toward the table where she remembered she’d touched something which had felt like a piece of striking flint. She found it again, picked up one of the chain links and scrabbled for a while trying to light one of the other torches. Finally she succeeded and steeled her nerve as she descended into the arena.  
Finding a weapon proved to be no easy task. Other than a clear distinction between wooden and metal blades, there seemed to be no other particular organisation to the swords in the racks. It took her another agonising ten minutes or so before she came across something that was a good balance for her and the right size.

It was blunt.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Kili… Couldn’t you have sharpened it for me at least?” She was running out of time, and who knew where he kept his whet stones? It would have to do. _‘It’s far better than nothing,’_ she reminded herself, retrieving the torch from where she had left it on the ground and heading back up to where Lasl waited impatiently. “We cannot stay here any longer, Sky. We need to keep moving,” she berated, then grasped the younger woman’s hand again and continued their flight down the hallway, forcing Sky into a run to keep up. She hated being short. Passageways and staircases went by in a blur. Sky had no idea how Lasl knew her way around so well, even after what she assumed could have been all her life as a slave under the dwarves. Eventually they came to a stop at a large junction. Lasl nodded to the right.

“Go that way, turn left, go down the stairs then turn left again, down the next set you come across then straight through and take the fifth hall on the right–”

“Left at the traffic lights, take the third exit at the roundabout, drive 379 metres exactly then turn right and stay in the far left lane– Bloody hell, Lasl you sound like my Navman. It’s practically useless coz it always seems to have poor satellite signal.”

Lasl had frozen with one arm held out, frowning as she tried to understand all the unfamiliar words Sky had used. "Not saying that you're useless, sorry," Sky continued, mentally slapping herself for letting her fear and frustration get the better of her. "But honestly, there is no way I will be able to remember all that. Thank you for bringing me this far. I'll figure out the rest on my own somehow...."

"What if someone catches you?"

"I was attacked by orcs and, terrified out of my wits, just kept running and running and got myself terribly lost...”

Lasl didn't look convinced, "And what about your clothing? They don't dress Women in dwarf underclothes." She was right of course, but Sky was sick of talking. Sick of the Mountain, sick of the dwarves and sick of not being able to do anything about their circumstances. Enough thinking had been done. Now it was time for action. "I've already come this far. There's no backing out now. I'll find the girls and I'll take the next dwarf or dam I come across hostage and make them show us the way out. I'll be fine. Go." The older woman turned to leave, but stopped for a moment when Sky grabbed her arm. "I couldn't have asked for a better friend. Thank you, Lasl." The maid nodded and they parted without another word.

"First left, down the stairs," Sky muttered to herself, trying to get at least the first parts of the directions correct. "Continue on.... Something about a fifth right...." In no time at all, she was sure she was anywhere but close to the Kitchens. Before her lay a maze of walkways and bridges, lined with lampposts and brass railings and a terrifying drop beneath, all within a cavern of colossal proportions. At least they had some safety precautions like railings here. A deafening silence pervaded the space. There was no movement, no sound. The whole area was deserted and Sky was willing to bet the entire level had been evacuated. It made some sense. If the orcs did break through, the first thing they would do would be to kill everything in sight. Goodbye half or even more of Erebor's nobility. She wouldn't miss any of them. Yet neither could she wish that fate upon them, she realised. No one deserved that.

Except maybe Thorin.

Because of the otherwise absolute stillness, she immediately noticed the figure moving rapidly through the suspended structures and thundering across the walkways behind her. She had just left one of the closed-in archways so she pressed herself up against the edge of the outside wall, praying that it would work. A moment later, a tall dwarf shot out of the opening beside her, seemingly unaware of her presence as he raced on down the stairs, following it to the right and into a darkened corridor.

Sky barely had any time to register that it was Kili before all hell broke loose below her. An animalistic growl echoed from the opening and there was a noise halfway between a clang and something hitting flesh, followed by the prince crying out in pain and anger. Then there was a more dwarf-like roar and the scream of what could only be another orc. The sounds of a fierce battle persisted for another few minutes, punctuated by Kili's battle cries and the shrieks of dying beasts. Sky wanted to leave, to head back the way she had come and leave him to it. He could take them. There couldn't be too many if they'd managed to hide well enough in the shadows in order to ambush him like that. But she was riveted to her spot, listening in fascinated horror to the fighting below.

Then Kili re-emerged, three orcs hot on his tail. He was probably trying to use the stairs to gain a better height advantage. His movements seemed clumsier than Sky remembered. Then she noticed the blood soaking his dark hair, oozing from what looked to be a viscous head wound. That would be enough to make anyone woozy, she supposed, and felt oddly sympathetic. His dwarven broadsword was covered in black orc blood and he flicked it to the side once, spattering the steps with filth, then brought it back up into a guard position as he chose a spot and held his ground. The hideous creatures halted for a moment, eyeing him warily. Stupid things; if they charged him together it would be over very quickly, but none of them seemed willing to take the risk. Then Kili stiffened and turned slightly; somehow she knew he had seen her and was looking at her out the corner of his eye. One of the orcs noticed the shift of attention and charged forward with a blood-curdling snarl, its comrades close behind. Kili easily deflected the attack, cutting his first opponent down but faltering as the next instantly took its place. His sword was struck from his grip and he barely dodged the follow up strike. Then he had drawn a long knife and was throwing himself bodily at the orc. It was clearly a last ditch thing. The creature fell beneath him as he sank the blade into its throat, but he was too slow to avoid the spike-studded mace of the final orc as it slammed into his side with a sickening thud.

Everything seemed to slow down for Sky then. Kili, after releasing an agonised cry, had fallen still over the corpse under him. The orc raised its terrible club with the intention of bringing it down on the prone dwarf's head. Torgan's lifeless form flashed through her mind. The helplessness she had felt at being unable to help him. His tortured breathing in his final moments. The way his hand had gripped hers so desperately in pain and fear.

Kili in Torgan's place and Fili in hers, holding the body of his little brother close as grief crushed his spirit.

"Oi, Ugly!"

Kili’s attacker paused for a second as it searched for Sky and found her at the top of the staircase. Why had she called out like that? _'Stupid, stupid, stupid!'_ There was no time for scolding herself now. It had left Kili and was making for her. What to do, what to do...  
Leaping over the side into the chasm would probably be a quicker and less painful death. Sky opted for running straight toward the orc, hoping to surprise it by fighting instead of fleeing as it had surely expected of her. It did indeed hesitate for a split second, which was enough for Sky to barrel into it and send it toppling down the stairs. Unfortunately, her momentum carried her forward and she fell with the orc a short way, covering her head with her arms to protect it then stopping herself by grabbing a spoke in the railing as it flashed by her. The orc recovered quickly and was almost on top of her by the time she managed to haul herself to her feet. She tried to move back up the steps like Kili had, and was nearing the top of the stair case when she stumbled. Quite fortunately as it turned out, because the mace whistled overhead, but the spikes caught her on the recoil, and she felt her tunic and skin tear simultaneously over her left shoulder blade. There was no time to register the pain as Sky shifted to one side, barely avoiding the club head as it came back down on the spot she had been just moments before. Then she rolled over, ignoring the step digging into her shoulder as she sliced at the beast's torso. It blocked her attack with the shaft of its weapon however, then wrapped its claws in her tunic and lifted her up in the air before slamming her into the terraced stone beneath, stunning and winding her for a few seconds as it raised that wicked mace for one final blow.

_'Stupid, stupid, STUPID!'_

Suddenly, the orc let out a screech and released her, turning to look at where Kili had somehow dragged himself close enough to bury his knife in the orc's calf. With extreme effort born of pure adrenalin, she forced her body into action and lifted her sword, thrusting up into the unprotected abdomen above her. The creature gargled and fell forward, Sky rolling again to avoid being crushed, though she was still rather slow and her legs ended up pinned. She groaned and groggily spent a few minutes pulling herself out.

Kili had moved onto his back and was tugging at the straps of the heavily dented cuirass he wore over his gambeson. Gritting his teeth, he fell back with a grunt and gave up. Sky shuffled over to him and undid the leather fastenings, gently lifting the breast plate off but not trying to shift him to remove the back plate. It was most likely giving him some much needed support anyway. Lying on the stairs couldn't be good for his ribs, which she was sure must be broken. She wasn't going to prod and poke him to find out though. Whilst the cuirass had clearly taken the brunt of the blow, it wouldn't have stopped it entirely, and even Khazad ribs would be delicate compared to the rest of a dwarf's bones. Kili had no such misgivings and was gingerly feeling his side as soon as the buckled metal was removed. He hissed and Sky grabbed his wrist, pulling it to his chest and holding it there. "Don't do that, you idiot! You'll just make it worse!"

Though he didn't fight her, he frowned _up_ at her in confusion and rasped, "What are you.... doing here?" His speech was halting. He was having difficulty completing sentences on one breath it would seem.  
"To be entirely honest with you? I was trying to find the kitchens to liberate my friends and get us all out once and for all. But I got lost."  
Kili snorted in reply and winced as the movement evidently aggravated his injuries. She only then noticed that a long gash ran from his hip to knee and was still bleeding rather profusely. After tearing strips of cloth from the orc's tattered clothing, she ripped off a wide, long piece of her own - previously Kili's - tunic, then pressed the cleaner fabric lengthwise down his leg to cover the wound, binding it closely with the other strips. It was the best she could do with what was available to her. "And a good thing I did, actually. Else no one would have been around to save your sorry ass."

"Why—" Kili sucked in sharply as she tightened the straps around the make-shift bandage, "Why did you do that?"

"I have no fucking clue. Blame it on the altitude. It's finally scrambled my brains."

It certainly had been rather stupid of her. What business was it of hers if Fili was left to mourn over Kili's broken and battered form? She was meant to be leaving; finding the girls and getting out for good. Yet here she was, tending to one of the people who had been making her life a living hell, using her body against her will and humiliating her every chance he got because it amused him. She must be crazy. Kili seemed to agree with her. "That was the most _foolish_... thing I have ever seen." She couldn't help but scoff at that. "I'm not the one who charged straight into a bloody ambush!"

"There is a big difference between… running into your hidden enemy, and calling them to you!"

Sky thought about that for a second, then replied, "Touché."

There was a long pause.

"I should finish you off," she said, considering him with her head cocked to one side. Kili tensed and she could see he was holding his breath. "You're probably dying anyway; you can't last long like that. And if there are any more of them, I'm hightailing it out of here. I'm not risking my life to defend someone who's technically dead already," she explained. He smirked tightly, "That... Didn't stop you the f— first time." Ignoring him, Sky hauled herself up a ways to reach out and tug Kili's knife free from the orc's leg, then settled back down next to the injured dwarf, admiring it as she spoke. "Fine blade, this. A slit throat has to be better than waiting to die from that lot." She indicated his battered form with the tip. "And why would you care?" he scoffed, but she didn't answer. "Go on then," he spread his arms slightly in a gesture of helplessness, "You will never... get a chance like this again." Sky sighed and fiddled with the dagger in her hands, unable to meet his eyes. Another moment of silence passed. Looking back the way she had come, at the labyrinth around them then down at Kili’s heavily bleeding form, she came to a decision. When she rose unsteadily to make her way down the stairs to the hallway with the bodies of all the other orcs, Kili called out, “Where are you going?”

“To make a stretcher I can handle by myself.”

The corpses proved unhelpful. She had hoped one of them would have a cloak of some kind, but most weren’t even wearing armour. Low ranking cannon-fodder most likely. Then she noticed a tapestry hanging further along, went to examine it and cursed. The top was high up, too high for her to reach. The solution was dangerous, but she decided to try it anyway. Retrieving the knife from where she’d left it on the stairs, she made her way back to the tapestry and climbed onto the window sill looking out onto the other buildings and flyovers beside it, trying not to glance down at the dizzying drop below. She slowly rose and balanced precariously on the sill, reaching up to grab onto the bar holding the tapestry in place and cutting through the fabric wrapped around it. The embroidered cloth fell to the ground with a flump, and she firmly pushed away the thought of what might be done to her in punishment.

Soon she had it laid out beside Kili and was attempting to move him onto it as carefully as possible. The back plate she had left him on made it easier, and she tried not to laugh as the absurd notion that he looked rather like a flipped turtle passed through her mind unbidden. It was an incredible effort to pull him to the top of the stairs and she had to rest a moment afterwards.

“Why are you… doing this?”

“Who am I kidding? I’ll never find the kitchens on my own, let alone escape. You were right. I’ll be caught and dragged back long before I get anywhere _near_ an exit.” Sky was fighting back frustrated tears, but there was no way in _hell_ she was going to break down in front of _him_. “And that orc nearly slew me, so I’m not about to have gone through all that, only to let you die anyway.”

“Hold on a minute. Did you just… _admit_ to me being right?” Kili quirked an eyebrow at her. How did he manage to look so annoyingly attractive even when covered from head to toe in grime and gore? If the gods of Middle Earth really did exist in this universe, they were having a good laugh at her expense. “Savour it. I won’t be saying that again,” she muttered, then got to her feet with a groan. She dragged him along for what felt like quite a distance before having to rest again. Amazingly, he was still conscious, though she wasn’t sure how long that would last. "Are those my _clothes_?!" His voice was incredulous. So he'd finally noticed then. She glanced down at the tunic and trousers she stole from his chambers and shrugged, then sharply inhaled as pain lanced through her shoulder from the gash. The shock must have been wearing off. She gingerly looked over and pulled the edges of the torn, blood-soaked cloth away from the still bleeding wound, grinning sheepishly at him. "Uh... Were. Past tense." He glared and shook his head at her slowly, "You... are unbelievable!"  
She bit her lip to hide her smirk. His dark eyes landed on the blade resting by his side where she had placed it for easy access in case of another attack, and he nodded at it, "I suppose that... sword is one of mine as well?" She gave him a mock glare as she recommenced dragging him. "It took forever to find, too! Your weapons racks are as disorganised as your chambers. You should clean up once in a while. Honestly, it’s a pigsty!"

"Yes, _Amad_!" Kili quipped sarcastically, shifting with another pained noise as they moved over a crack in the floor, jolting him slightly. They reached a junction and she looked down at him. “Which way?” Her own head was starting to spin now and she reached out to the wall for support. Having hit it hard on the stairs, in combination with her having probably opened her shoulder wound further with the strain of dragging Kili, was beginning to take its toll on her. She could feel the warm wetness all down her back, sticking her shirt to her skin.  
“Where are you trying to take me?”  
“Us,” she corrected. “I’m trying to take _us_ to someone who can fix us up so we don’t end up dying side by side in the middle of a huge stone tomb. You are so not the last thing I want to see of the world.” He chuckled humourlessly, “Of course not. But the… infirmary is quite a distance from here. We are in the lower… levels and you do not have the endurance it will require to… get us both there.”

“I’m not going to be any better off if I leave you either. I am hopelessly lost.” She slumped down next to him on the marble, absentmindedly tracing a finger over the white streaking through the dark green. “I suppose I will just have to be the last… _thing_ you see then. Apologies for the inconvenience,” he sneered, then made a point of staring at the wall on the other side of the stretcher. There was something slightly off about his behaviour, though she couldn’t place it. He was also starting to drift, she could see it in the way he shook himself awake every few minutes. He had to stay conscious or she might lose him entirely and it would have all been for nothing. “What were you doing down here?” Sky thought he wouldn’t answer at first as the silence dragged on, but then he sighed and replied, “I was meant to lead… a separate group of our soldiers out through a secret… passage and badger the remainder of the orc army. Finish them off if we could. I was on my way to meet them when–”

“You got jumped. And almost died,” she finished for him. “So much for ‘Captain of the Elite Guard’,” she deepened her voice in mimicry of him and he scowled, but didn’t bite back for once. He was becoming noticeably paler now and Sky reluctantly tore off some more of her shirt, balling the fabric up and pushing it firmly against the wound in an attempt to staunch the bleeding, but the cut was long and she had to alternate the places where she pressed. She doubted it was helping much. “Do you think they might come looking for you?”

“Yes… Don’t know if they will… be in time though,” Kili slurred, his speech almost unintelligible now. Sky gritted her teeth and prodded his injured ribs, not hard, but enough to jolt him awake again with a growl of pain.

“Stay with me.”

“Mahal’s _sake_ Woman, let me die in peace!”

A noise in the distance made her shush him and listen carefully. There it was again. The clanking of armour coming up the hallway and the guttural sounds of Khuzdul interspersed with Kili’s name. A tired smile spread across her face.

“No chance of that now, your highness. The cavalry has arrived.”

  
D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My thanks go out to my betas for helping me so extensively with fine tuning this chapter. Thank you Wockerjabi, Dragonfyre18 and CelticAngel86.  
> Feed me your thoughts!! Skywolf, over and out. 
> 
>  
> 
> Khuzdul Translation:
> 
> Amad – Mother; singular
> 
> Much gratitude to Dwarrowscholar (not a Fanfiction pen name by the way; look them up on the general internet) who spent so much time putting together an actual English-Khuzdul DICTIONARY, which is what I used here. 
> 
>  
> 
> Armour:
> 
> ‘Gorget’ – Neck protection; usually made of hinged metal or thick, boil-hardened leather.
> 
> ‘Cuirass’ – the torso protection made of combined breast and back plates (from what I understand)


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER – GRAPHIC WOUNDS/MEDICAL PROCEDURES AND MENTIONS OF EUTHANASIA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all. Here is another chapter for you. This was originally a part of the previous one, before I decided to split them because the original chapter was possibly too long, and I felt the engagement with particular things would be better this way for both major turn points in the character relationships. Those of you who have been dying for a little more Fili/Sky development, I hope this will appease you for at least a little bit. It is going to take some time; they both need to work through a few things and go through a few specific events together before any major turn will occur in their relationship. But it’s coming. Just hang in there. In the meantime, I’ll just have to attempt to entertain you with the – I feel – interesting changes in the Kili/Sky dynamic, hehehehe. They are so much fun to write. But that’s coming up later.  
> Anyway, read and I hope you enjoy.

It took eighteen stitches to close the ragged wound on her shoulder. She knew because she felt every one of them and counted the sharp pricks and tugs through gritted teeth to keep herself focused and still while Oin’s assistant worked. Sky had asked him if they had any kind of local anaesthetic and he had told her they did, but it wasn’t ‘wasted on slaves’. She had dug her fingers into the blankets on the cot she was sitting on to prevent them from taking hold of the needle and ramming it repeatedly into the dwarf’s eye. She startled herself with the rather violent turn her mental processes had taken and sat quietly for the rest of the procedure, using the pain to stay grounded. She had suffered worse under Thorin’s hand. The words themselves had stabbed into her deeper than any needle. If one more person opened their mouths to remind her of her place… No! Stop. No more of those disturbing thoughts. It wasn’t her; she knew it wasn’t her. The stress of the day was getting to her was all.  
Just as she was about to leave the improvised infirmary the dwarves had set up near the front gate, the monstrous double doors groaned open and a large group of soldiers stumbled in, carrying their wounded as swiftly yet as carefully as they could manage despite many sporting their own injuries. The sounds of battle had long receded; Thorin had purportedly lead a portion of the army to badger the remainder of their enemies in Kili's place, supposedly having received the news that the youngest prince had been incapacitated. The able-bodied were now searching for and bringing in the survivors to be treated.  
Oin growled at his assistants and they began shifting patients who could afford to be moved off the temporary 'beds' - simple affairs made of thin, easily transported mattresses and linen coverings, which were by now soiled with blood and muck - in order to replace them with the as yet untreated.  
Sky turned to go, but stopped when the old royal physician called her name and waved her over.

"Do ye have any experience in the healing arts, girl?"  
"I-"  
Sky wasn't sure how to answer that. She had grown up in a family which had just seemed predisposed to the field of medicine; her mother was a nurse, her mother's girlfriends all seemed to be either nurses or doctors, even her mother's ex had been a doctor. Hell, Sky's partner's sister was a nurse too...  
And Sky herself had wanted to study psychology, though she wasn't sure that really counted as 'healing arts', despite healing of the mind sometimes proving to be the most needed form of treatment on the planet. She hadn't studied medicine as such, but one couldn't help but pick things up when there were so many medical books lying around open on tables and laptops displaying assignments all the time. And everyone in the family had been taught basic first aid...  
There she went, overanalysing again. The information whizzing through her head was barely relevant to the question, rapidly branching off in tangents moving further and further away from the original topic, as per usual. Only a few seconds had passed, but even that was too long for Oin, who grunted and shoved a wooden crate full of what looked like medical supplies at her. "No matter. Ye will just have to learn quickly. Leave the worst of ‘em to the trained healers. Just pick what ye think ye can handle."

Then he was creakily making his way over to a patient whose armour and skin had been rent; some of his organs were visible and Sky - caught between medical interest, fascinated horror and her conscience telling her that normal people should feel sick, not intrigued - managed somehow to tear herself away and moved to the side of the first injured form she laid eyes on. Other than a few very deep cuts which would need stitches, something she was of course unfortunately not proficient in, the dwarf was mostly intact. Sky kept her eyes down and cleaned his wounds as best she could. When she searched for gauze however, all she found were piles of thick cloth cut into various sized pieces and tied together in rolls. They were medically advanced in some ways but not in others it would seem. She placed the cloth cuts over her patient’s injuries before wrapping each one with a bandage to hold the ‘gauze’ in place, stemming the blood flow until someone who actually knew what they were doing could come to suture them properly.  
The dwarf offered no thanks but she hadn't been expecting gratitude anyway so, satisfied she had done all in her limited power, Sky moved on to the next relatively mild case.

"Kili!"

The shout distracted her from where she had been binding a sprained ankle - finally, something she knew all about! - and she had a moment to glimpse a golden blur as Fili, covered in blood though Sky could see no wounds, darted through the outermost line of beds to the secluded corner where Kili had been taken and was now surrounded by guards, who immediately allowed the older brother through.

Kili had evidently regained consciousness some time in the past few hours because she could hear his bleary voice raised in what sounded like a frantic warning at first, before it lowered and disappeared into the background noise of groaning and occasionally screaming patients as their bones were set or...  
This time Sky really was repulsed and had to look away again as, upon turning to locate the nearest screamer, she was greeted with the shocking sight of an amputation in progress. The dwarf she'd been wrapping the ankle of grunted and nudged her shoulder, so she swiftly and all too willingly refocused on the foot in front of her.

A few minutes later, she had just finished cleaning a deep gash on one soldier's back when a pair of much larger hands gently moved hers out of the way and pressed a pad covered in a strong smelling liquid to the opening. Sky glanced up and was surprised to see him kneeling beside her.  
"Pass me the..." He stopped and shot her a thoughtful look. "Just move that crate closer to me, please."  
She did and Fili retrieved what appeared to be a pair of thick tweezers, scissors, a needle and suturing thread. _'Forceps and needle driver,'_ she mentally corrected herself, watching with some envy as he stitched the wound closed with practiced ease. He shifted back to let her bandage it so she didn't feel completely inadequate. They worked together that way for the rest of the time Oin had need of them, Fili stitching, setting and splinting whilst Sky cleaned and bound. She watched his hands intently and he obligingly began to comment on his own actions as he went along, teaching her a number of new and useful things. He didn't let her try most of the advanced procedures herself, nor would their patients have for that matter, but she did get to help him pop a few dislocated joints back in place; her teeth kept doing a funny little twinge during each process. The dwarves they treated all protested at first when they realised their crown prince intended to dirty his hands healing them, but after a short conversation where Fili reassured them it was what he wished, they acquiesced and gratefully accepted his assistance.

It began to quiet down again as the intake of casualties ceased and Oin's task force - both trained and drafted - caught up to the demand. Those who could not be saved drifted quietly away with the assistance of a milky potion administered by Oin, which Fili informed Sky was laced with a painless poison that slowly shut down the body and brain to speed and ease a dying soldier's passing. She wondered what certain people would have to say about that back home; it was quite a controversial topic for many, though the dwarves seemed to have no qualms, so long as consent had been given.

Consent.

Apparently it didn't apply to her kind, particularly in bed. Though upon cold, logical reflection that was only slightly different to her own world really. There, it was her gender which appeared to negate consent as far as the social system was concerned. Here, it was her race.

Dwarrowdams were treated as equals. She was sure the respectful body language of some court sessions had shown dams to be listened to and treated the same as the dwarves. Only the royals were approached differently, and even they dipped their heads slightly to the dwarven women during interaction.  
Sky dearly wished she could understand even the basics of Khuzdul. Body language could only tell her so much and she felt more threatened than usual when all speech around her was so consistently unintelligible.  
Finally, they were needed no longer, and Fili took her by her uninjured shoulder, steering them both away from the gate and the ‘infirmary’, taking a route which looked similar to the one Dwalin had used on her very first day in the Mountain. “That’s a lot of blood,” she ventured. “It is not mine,” came his quiet response. He must have helped shift and carry many of those wounded warriors in from the carnage outside. The pommel and hilt of the sword hanging from his belt were stained with dark patches; he wouldn’t have had time to clean it properly. Fili always seemed a little tired, but today his movements were verging on sluggish, and she thought she caught him jerking his head up slightly a few times as though he was falling asleep on his feet and kept having to shake himself awake. When they passed a fountain – similar to those Sky had seen in Dale, only subterranean – Fili halted for a second or two whilst he splashed a few handfuls of cold water over his face with a sharp intake of breath. They continued on in silence for a while longer then, when she thought they were drawing close to the royal apartments, Fili stopped them and surveyed the hall before turning to her.

“I need to speak with you.”

“Is it safe?” She was sure he would know she was thinking of the Shadows.

He nodded, “For now, yes.” There was a short pause as he seemed to be gathering his thoughts; when he spoke again, his tone was bordering on disbelief, “Kili tells me that you saved his life. Is this true?”  
That was… interesting. She had expected the younger prince to lie for the sake of pride, stemming of course from his insufferable superiority complex. “Yes, unfortunately,” she sighed and watched him do a double take at that.  
“I– What?”  
“Honestly, I don’t know what possessed me,” she said, glaring at one of the tapestries as though it were her foolish past self. What _had_ possessed her? She had asked herself that question numerous times in the past several hours it had been since she opened her mouth and halted that murderous final blow which would have taken him out of her life forever. No reasonable, logical answer was forthcoming and she doubted there would ever be one.  
A moment passed before understanding flickered across his features. “I know he can be intolerable at times and I am aware that is true even more so for you. He… has not had an easy life.” Sky snorted and folded her arms, staring him down expectantly. He ignored her and persisted. “Yet despite all of this, you risked your own safety to preserve his. For that, I am eternally grateful.”  
She felt a plethora of thoughts and resulting emotions arising within her at his words, but she could not identify a single one, they were so mixed and entangled in one another; all she knew was that she was about to scream, laugh, cry and possibly break something simultaneously in a moment and she didn’t want him to see that.

“Can your _gratitude_ release me from this bloody hellhole so I can go find a semblance of an actual life worth living? No? Then keep it. It’s useless to me,” she told him bitterly then turned on her heel, intending to stride off down the hall before she released whatever it was, swirling around inside of her, but his voice growling her name halted her in her tracks.

“Sky. Come here.” His tone was firm and she found herself unable to disobey; she walked back slowly like a reprimanded child until she was standing a few feet away from him again. “I prefer you do not follow _all_ those ridiculous rules when alone in my presence, but that does _not_ give you the right to be _impertinent_.” He sighed and ran a hand down his face. “I understand there is no love lost between you and my brother, but he is my kin and _I_ care for him greatly. More than I do for anyone or anything else in this world.” Sky glanced up at him; his tone and eyes were sincere, and she knew already how devoted he was to Kili. He _had_ threatened to kill her once when she had taken the asshole down with a well-placed kick to the balls. She eyed Fili warily. “Your actions have placed not only Kili but also myself in your debt, no matter what our laws might say about slaves. I care not for those,” he continued. “That leaves me only one way with which I can repay you.” He drew his sword in one fluid motion; Sky gasped and jerked away as a flash of fear sparked in her belly. Fili held up his other hand hurriedly, “No, no! I mean you no harm! It is alright. You can trust me, I promise. It is just tradition.”

Sky’s brow creased in confusion as she watched him go down on one knee before her, hands holding his blade resting horizontally across his spread palms. His ice blue eyes met hers, and she couldn’t look away as he spoke.  
"I, Fili, Son of Dis, Son of Vili, Crown Prince of Erebor and Heir to the Throne, do solemnly say to you, Sky, Royal Consort to Thorin the Second, King Under The Mountain, that I am forever in your debt. I swear to you a Blood Oath on the behalf of my younger brother, Kili, Son of Dis, Son of Vili, second Prince of Erebor, to protect you against all odds with my life, and die for you if necessary. This I vow in the name of the Valar Aulë and of all I hold dear."

There was a moment of silence.

“Hold your hand over the blade and accept it,” he murmured. She shook her head and stepped back. “I can’t.”  
“Before my great grandfather began the war between our kind and all other races of Middle Earth, it was law and part of our warrior code that any debt created by the saving of Khazad blood was to be paid back by that dwarf to his saviour, in blood.” Fili spoke quickly, eyes darting around the room for a moment.  
“Isn’t that a bit... I don’t know… _drastic?_ ” Sky muttered to him, sensing his anxiety and nervously following where his gaze had travelled briefly before looking back at him again.  
“Sky, please, we have no _time_ for this!” Fili groaned softly.

“Well, then shouldn’t it be Kili on his knees in front of me? I know he’s on his sickbed currently but he could always do it later I suppose…” Part of her was amused at the thought. The other part focused on Fili’s face as he frowned.  
“I am his elder brother. It is my desire and my duty to shoulder any obligation which might endanger him. I do not give you my sword and life lightly, _Aklath_.”  
Sky registered the Khuzdul word with curiosity. It had no spiteful or mocking ring to it like Kili’s plethora of nicknames for her, yet it wasn’t said with any particular feeling of endearment either. Fili cleared his throat to regain her attention and gestured at the weapon on his palms with his eyes. Allowing herself to recognise the enormity of what he was offering would only make it harder, so she stopped thinking about it and took a deep breath, stretching out a hand to hover uncertainly over the metal glinting in the torchlight. "I, Sky, Royal Consort to Thorin the Second, King Under The Mountain, accept this Blood Oath, Fili, Son of Dis, Son of Vili, Crown Prince of Erebor and Heir to the Throne."  
He sighed in clear relief and smiled; it was brilliant despite its subtlety and Sky tried desperately not to stare like a besotted fool. “Not exactly the ceremonial words of acceptance, but I suppose they will do,” he commented, standing and sheathing his sword.

All Sky could think as he led her back to her war-torn chambers was that he had finally smiled at _her_ , and that she felt oddly lighter and happier than she had for months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know in a review? Skywolf, over and out. 
> 
> Khuzdul Translation:
> 
> Aklath – Sky; singular noun


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER – HUMANOID HEADS ON WALLS, BURNING, BEATING AND BASICALLY JUST THORIN BEING AN ALMIGHTY DICK (For those of you who would like to skip this part, look for the next line of D-D-D-Ds and read from there)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all!! Sorry for the wait. I think it’s only fair to let you know that updates may come very slowly from now on. I am NOT putting this story on hiatus or abandoning it or putting it up for adoption, don’t worry (then again someone else might do better so it might be better if I did, but meh I’m human and I refuse to give up my chance to make shitloads of mistakes and hopefully learn from them lol). That being said, I will soon be in my last year of my BA in Music and will be starting an online Diploma of Counselling as early as next week, then applying to begin a BA in Social Sciences (Psychology) as soon as possible. So yeah; I am a busy little bee. Enjoy. 

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

The week following the battle was… interesting to say the least.

It took a while for Sky’s usual routine to start up again as she had to sleep on the divan the first night with the balcony doors wide open in an attempt to lessen the smell of the dead bodies in her chambers. The Khazad just couldn’t spare the dwarf or man-power shifting them yet. The royal family were not in immediate need of their own apartments. Thorin and Fili were otherwise engaged and Kili was confined to a cot in the infirmary so Oin could keep a close eye on him, so clearing the area was deemed a task lower down on the list of post-battle priorities. Sky contented herself with the image of Kili becoming agitated and annoyed at his lack of mobility in addition to the grizzled healer ordering him around. Served him right, the pompous jackass.

They finally did get around to cleaning up the hallway a day later. Sky watched sadly as they moved Torgan’s remains out on a stretcher, his face respectfully covered with the sheet they had draped over his corpse. It was only as the week began to draw to a close that Sky began worrying about something else. Lasl had not returned since that fateful afternoon when they had parted on the Middle Level. Even more worrisome was the appearance of a stranger in the maid’s place, carrying out all her old jobs and avoiding Sky where possible just like Lasl had originally done. Upon prompting, the middle-aged Woman introduced herself as Beatrice, but offered no other information and Sky didn’t bother prying for it. She didn’t want to ask where Lasl had gone; she was afraid of what the answer might be.  
A distraction from her fearful thoughts arose not long after in the form of a surprising occurrence. She received a summons from Thorin, who had until then been kept busy in the aftermath. Thorin had _never_ called for her before; not once in the almost three month period she had been living in the Mountain. He always visited _her_ to satiate his needs. What had changed? The only thing she could think of was her recent escapade during which she had learnt she was being tailed.

The Shadows had apparently also been kept busy in the chaos of conflict, considering Fili had been so certain it was safe to pledge his life to a lowly slave – the King’s bed slave, no less – in the hallway… Yet she imagined they were most likely back in their normal roles by now. This meant her own Shadow would’ve reported the marketplace incident to Thorin, who would have insisted Fili explain his ‘actions.’ Perhaps Fili had failed to come up with a satisfactory lie this time? Or come to the conclusion that she wasn’t worth all the effort and potential consequences? _‘Or Thorin could be trying to intimidate you with the abrupt change of routine, making you go wild in an attempt to guess at his motives?’_ offered the little voice. Sky wasn’t sure which to feel more on edge about: Thorin breaking the pattern or that infernal inner voice making a helpful suggestion for once.

She made her way to the double ornamental doors with extreme trepidation and took a few breaths to calm herself before she approached the guards, who had apparently been ordered to let her in upon arrival. She stood stock still in the foyer, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dark room. Thorin’s chambers were much larger than even Fili’s or Kili’s, with a large sitting room in front of the crackling fireplace to her right and three doorways – two of them currently closed – further up. The floors were covered in soft fur rugs which her feet would have delighted in were she not wearing the moccasins supplied to her for the winter months, when the marble felt like ice underfoot. The fire in the hearth gave a loud pop and Sky jumped, focus automatically shifting to the source of the sound.

There was a head mounted on the wall over the mantelpiece and it wasn’t a deer or even a warg. It was originally too dark to see, but as her irises expanded to take in more light, it became clear that the head was actually humanoid. Sky swallowed down her revulsion and stepped closer, drawn inexplicably nearer even as her stomach warned her that it didn’t like what it had already seen and certainly did not want any more detail, thank you very much. When she could finally make out the rest of the head’s features, she stood there for several minutes, struggling to understand the emotions battling each other for prominence, ranging from horror, disgust, fascination, confusion, alarm and fear to insanely amused for a reason she had difficulty fathoming. A laugh was actually attempting to burst from her throat and she could feel her facial muscles twitching before she lost the fight and a giggle escaped, the smile broadening on her face even as her brows tensed in a frown.

The head was elven.

Not only that, but the features stared out at her with an expression somewhere between perplexed and constipated, which so perfectly matched how she had seen Orlando Bloom playing his role in the movies. The whole vision seemed surreal and she was almost doubled over now, close to tears from the violence of the laughter being ripped from her.

Legolas.

The dwarf king had somehow managed to slay him and now displayed the head over his hearth like some kind of hunting trophy.

Legolas.

Sky’s thoughts whirled round and round, her amusement growing as she lost her grip on reality in the face of such an overwhelmingly horrific, twisted and downright absurd notion. Eventually she had to collapse on the large divan behind her, sobbing hysterically into her arm whilst trying to silence the loud noise she was making, not wanting to bring Thorin’s wrath down upon her. The thought that he might cut off her head and mount it next to that of Legolas brought on a new wave of uncontrollable giggling and crying.

“When you are quite finished.”

His deep rumble warmed and froze her simultaneously, and she bit back a startled yelp as she realised he was in the room with her. She almost threw herself into the fire in her haste to get off the sofa and drop into the crouch, shaking slightly as she awaited his reprimand. He said nothing for what felt like an excruciatingly long time, instead rounding her trembling figure and seating himself on the couch she had just vacated. Thorin’s eyes bored into Sky, but she steadfastly avoided meeting them, waiting for the command to rise. It didn’t come. He was testing her, she supposed. Standing without permission would bring more pain than he was no doubt already intending to inflict on her. She waited, ignoring the ache in her knee and Achilles tendon.

“Come here.”

Sky bit her lip and shuffled to the spot he’d indicated next to his booted feet. The winter dress was longer than her cooler clothing, so she had to pull it up slightly as she moved to avoid falling flat on her face. At least Kili wasn’t there to gloat this time. Thorin reached down to remove her veil, allowing it and the hood to drop onto her shoulders. Sky waited. “Rise and pour me some wine. The pitcher and chalice are over there.” He tilted his head toward a sideboard against the wall behind him. She hadn’t noticed it before. Sky crossed the room and picked up the pitcher, though she quickly put it down again for a moment when she heard the violent sloshing inside and realised her hands were shaking. Taking a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm down, she tried again, this time managing to keep the spout relatively steady over the embossed goblet. She picked up the cup and carried it carefully to where the King waited, kneeling in front of him before offering the drink with her head bowed and a silent plea for his satisfaction on her lips.  
He didn’t take it. Instead one of his large hands pushed it back toward her and she instinctively looked up in confusion. “You first,” came the order. Did he honestly think she would dare try to poison _him_? Apparently the answer was yes, because the longer she hesitated the darker his expression became. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Sky raised the chalice and took a sip, uncertain of how much he’d meant. “More,” he growled, seizing one of her wrists and lifting it up so she was forced to drink deeply or risk spilling wine down her front. He only stopped once all of it had been drained. Her head felt heavier than usual and her vision was beginning to blur slightly around the edges. She had never been able to hold her liquor, but she was sure she had only ingested about the equivalent of two standard glasses. Dwarven alcohol was much stronger than that of Men it would seem. This one was quite bitter and she tried not to let her distaste show on her face.

After watching her for several minutes, Thorin ordered her to bring him another. She hoped he wouldn’t make her drink that one too. Thankfully he didn’t, accepting the goblet and leaning back into the cushions behind him before taking a long draught. She waited. Her whole body felt as though gravity had increased and she wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep right there on the rug by Thorin’s feet.  
“Why were you in such a state when I entered? You are here to serve me, not indulge in such ridiculous hysteria,” he growled. She bowed her head lower, searching for words that might lessen her punishment.  
“Answer me!”  
Sky jumped and stuttered, “I-I-I… I s-saw…”  
“Speak up, _salrûna_.”  
“I saw t-the… the head and… a-and…”  
“Gave you a bit of a fright did it?” He chuckled and she heard him sip from the goblet again. “O-on the contrary, my lord, I…” She stopped, afraid to go on and wondering what had possessed her to contradict him in the first place. She could have just let him provide the explanation and stayed silent. “Oh? Do go on.” His voice held an unusual note of real interest, as opposed to his normal mocking sneer warning of imminent reprimand. “I was… I… I-it’s mildly funny, your Grace.”  
“Funny?”  
“Humorous, your Grace.”  
“ _Humorous_ , you say?” He grinned at her over the rim of his cup and she looked down quickly, slightly dazzled by the row of white teeth which had been flashed at her. She shifted and nodded silently, biting her lip as the wine and the strange mix of emotions from before churned in her stomach and sought to be free, though Sky firmly kept it all down. “His expression, I imagine,” Thorin mused, moving forward to perch on the edge of the divan with his elbows on his knees. “I find myself laughing at it often enough myself. The High Hunt during which I caught him is still the most sung about and praised amongst our people. Perhaps you would like to hear the tale?” Though refusing was clearly not an option, she replied, “If it pleases my lord to regale me with it.”

His eyes reflected the flames in the hearth before them, his voice taking on an entrancing quality she had not heard before. In another life he would surely have made a wonderful storyteller; she might sit for hours just listening, fully engaged. But this was Thorin, and this was Erebor in a parallel universe apparently created by deities possessing a twisted sense of something that could hardly be called humour even in its darkest, crudest form. The dwarf King told of how carefully they had had to plan the next elf hunt after their first successful attempt. The Children of Illúvatar had been caught off-guard once, complacent in their old age and almost single-minded desire to travel to the Undying Lands, but they would not be making the same mistake twice. The procession would be guarded by younger, sprightlier counterparts, armed and ready for any repeat of the attack in which over a dozen journeying elves had been captured and enslaved by the Khazad.

Thorin proudly spoke of his plan to enlist the services of a family of cave trolls, which had wandered alarmingly close to the outlying farms of Dale. The then-Prince Thorin had aimed to kill two birds with one stone. Rid the area of the trolls by paying them off with shiny baubles and trinkets of little to no actual value, with the instruction to harass the party of elves and distract them long enough for the wizard to-  
“Wizard?” Sky bit her tongue sharply and bowed her head again, praying he would forgive the outburst in his seemingly good mood. Thorin raised an eyebrow and spoke slowly as though to a particularly dense student, “Gandalf the Black.”  
_‘Black?!’_ Just when she thought this world couldn’t get any more backward.  
“You seem surprised. Surely you have heard of him?”

She had never been more grateful than she was now for having gone with her improvisation instincts and given Thorin the amnesia excuse all those months ago. “I remember so little of any life before the Heath Tribe, my lord. And they were so isolated. Despite taking me in, it took them weeks to trust me enough to speak in a tongue I could understand. Even then, wizards were never part of any conversation. I beg your pardon for my insolence. It was not at all intended.” Thorin chuckled, “I think you have been spending far too much time around my nephew. His eloquence and wordiness have begun to rub off on you.” He tossed back the rest of the wine and set the goblet down on the floor in front of him so loudly and suddenly that Sky flinched. “Enough about me. I would rather hear more about _you_. Why not tell me about your little trip to the marketplace? _It_ sounds like a _fascinating_ tale.”

His words had taken on a sinister purr, his smile and easy-going attitude contradicted by the steel in his gaze. Sky couldn’t remember when she had lifted her head to look at him. Her mind went blank and her palms began to sweat…. Or maybe they had been doing that for a while now. Ever since she had entered his chambers most likely. “Fili said he ordered you down there with him to carry his purchases and give you a brief change of scenery under his supervision. Had a disguise made for you to avoid any trouble from those foolish enough to think they could use you against me. Is this true?”  
Dare she attempt to lie again? Some part of her was fervently warning her against it. Something to do with his posture, tone of voice and the dangerous look in his eyes. He knew. He had to know. He was Thorin, King Under the Mountain and master of all he surveyed. No one was ever truly safe, and no one ever truly gained the upper hand, in anything. But surely, she should at least try. Fili had stuck his neck out for her once again, as promised, though this time his oath had given him no choice. What little control he must have had over his own life – the choice to risk Thorin’s anger to assist her or to let her take the punishment for her own slip ups – and she had taken that away from him too, albeit unintentionally. He could have simply avoided telling her about his debt to her altogether, and she would never have known. She wouldn’t have expected it of him even once she did know. How the hell did he get by in Thorin’s court whilst being so damn dutiful? It must hinder him at times. One had to be able to recognise the grey areas if one ever wanted to get anywhere, especially in politics.

By the time she finally made to speak, Sky realised it was too late and she had missed her window of opportunity. There was no way now that she could believably back up Fili’s cover story, not after her brief moment of hesitation. If it had been the truth, she would have immediately verified it; the dwarf King would now be expecting anything coming out of her mouth to be a lie, or at the very least, a twisted version of the real events. Thorin was staring at her expectantly, so she did the only thing she could think of. She bit her tongue and looked down at the rug.

Big mistake.

Though to be fair to herself, nothing she could have said or done would have altered what happened next, except maybe made it worse.

One moment, he was seated on the divan, and the next he was suddenly by her side, grasping her left wrist and forcing her hand onto the glowing hot coals at the edge of the hearth. He held it there for only a couple of seconds, but the pain was agonising. Sky screamed and thrashed, scrambling backward as far as the nearby wall would allow once he released her, cradling her injured palm to her chest whilst trying not to brush the damaged skin against the cloth. Thorin gave her almost no time to recover, dragging her through the open door across the room almost immediately. She registered little of her surroundings through her silent tears and the pain, other than the huge bed she found herself on.

He didn’t bother removing her dress, merely yanking it up around her hips and pushing her legs apart. She didn’t struggle; she would only end up hurting her hand more and making him do something else to her. His entrance was rough, but she welcomed the distraction, and the pleasure soon began to filter into her brain in little bursts. Normally she tried to ignore how he felt inside her, but this time, given the choice between focusing on the blazing pain in her hand and the humiliating option of enjoying the sex, the decision was easy. She’d give herself hell for it later, she promised. Sky’s heart jolted when he pulled out and made to flip her onto her stomach, afraid of scraping the now-blistering skin of her palm on anything. Luckily, she managed to keep it in the air the entire time until she was in the position he wanted. But of course, what small fortunes she’d had couldn’t last.

His fingers deftly loosened the leather collar and other ties holding the back of the gown closed, dragging the entire thing off her in a few movements. She bit back a hiss as the sleeve was ripped past her injured hand. “Now, I want you to crawl on your hands and knees to that chest over there. Inside you will find a paddle, which you will bring to me in your teeth. Move.” Sky swiftly slid off the bed and onto the softly carpeted floor, then started crawling awkwardly on her three working limbs toward the wooden box he’d indicated in the corner of the large bedchamber. She jumped and halted when he growled, “I distinctly recall using the plural form when I said _hands_ and knees, _salrȗna_! Obey my commands properly or your other one will be next!”

“But… my lord– ” she began in a choked whimper, but was silenced by his thundering roar.

“YOU _DARE_ CONTRADICT ME?!”

“No, your Majesty!” She half screamed and curled up in anticipation of an attack. Instead, he remained on the bed, reclining against the cushions and speaking calmly again as though nothing had happened. “Get on with it then. And be grateful there are only soft fur rugs beneath you and not hard, filthy stone.”

She was crying openly now. She couldn’t help it. The suffering he was capable of putting her through would be far worse than following his current order. Yet is still took her almost a full minute to gather up the courage and the will, and by that time she could sense Thorin getting impatient with her again. Grasping a corner of her hood and stuffing it between her teeth to muffle any sound, she moved quickly over to the box, trying to put as little weight on the damaged skin as possible whilst fervently wishing that it _was_ stone beneath her. It would have cooled the raging invisible flame that still engulfed her hand. It flared every time her palm pressed down on the cruel fibres of the rugs, so soft to the gaze, but like barbed wire when in contact with the burnt area.

The handle of the paddle was more effective to bite down on as she completed the painful circuit back to where Thorin waited, which she was thankful for. Her gratitude faded quickly however when the King grasped her roughly by the wrists, hauled her bodily over his lap and began striking her backside and thighs mercilessly with it. Sky wasn’t sure what was worse: her hand or her lower half. Both now felt as though they were on fire. He gave her no respite; not once did he stop for a few minutes to rub the bruises and welts beginning to form and give her a chance to recover. The beating – ‘spanking’ was far too tame and kind a word for it – went on for what felt like hours and hours. Every one of her senses collapsed inward and her whole world became pure pain.

Then, at some point, there came a moment when it crossed the line – that strange, impossible line – into something that resembled a far off sort of pleasure. She became aware of a wetness filling her opening and coating the insides of her legs. Aroused. That was what she felt. Then came the self-loathing and bitter resentment toward her unfortunate circumstances, and whatever it was that had turned this world on its head and created such unsavoury characters and dark places, where once there had been light and warmth and opportunity. The Khazad were destroying the world around them along with every other race they were meant to share it with. And she was one, small, insignificant being among all the others suffering for the stupidity and pride of the dwarven people. She had no control over her life anymore, and now her own body had been taken and turned against her by this monster in the guise of a handsome, charismatic ruler.

When he’d finally had enough of her, Thorin dragged her over to a corner where a steel frame stood, leather straps and cold metal rings hanging from it. He made Sky raise her arms above her head, then bound her and left her dangling there, standing painfully on tip-toe, whilst he sent a guard to summon Oin. The old healer wordlessly applied a salve – oh sweet heavenly relief! – to her palm and bandaged it before leaving as swiftly as he’d arrived. Thorin approached her and she stiffened, waiting fearfully for his next punishment. Instead he leant in and pressed his lips to her ear, murmuring, “I know what you did, and I know what your maid did. Rest assured you will _never_ see her again. Perhaps next time you will think better of trying to defy me.”

With that he snuffed the torches and swept out of the room, closing the door behind him and plunging her into darkness for several, torment-filled hours.

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

Another three weeks passed with no more unusual occurrences. Thorin had released her from the frame that same terrible evening and locked her in her own chambers again. Beatrice came and went on the same schedule Lasl had followed. Sky ate her meals, slept, bathed and sat still for Oin to replace her dressings when needed. The stitches on her shoulder came out and Oin reassured Thorin there would be no scar. Sky didn’t care but she kept her mouth shut and nodded and bowed in all the right places. Her sketchbook remained under the bed, forgotten and slowly gathering dust. She hadn’t the heart to draw. She might catch a glimpse of that remaining snowflake and some part of her knew it would be her undoing, so she locked it away in the most isolated corner of her mind and refused to think about it.

Then a summons came from Kili, and she reluctantly allowed herself to be escorted to his chambers.

Inside, she noticed his normally haphazard living quarters appeared to have been tidied to beyond what he would normally have done himself. A slave or servant must have been sent in to clean it up for his return once he was cleared to be moved from the infirmary. The dwarf himself was directly across the room from her, sitting on a chair placed by the doorway leading down to the arena. He had a crutch resting at his left against the side of the seat and a bundle of clothing tucked under his right arm. She walked in and halted a few feet away from him, arms folded, both eyebrows raised since she couldn’t separate them into the one eyebrow move he used all the time, much to her chagrin. Kili hauled himself laboriously to his feet and limped over to the top of the staircase. Sky watched him, puzzled. He turned to throw her the bundle and she barely caught it before it hit her in the face. Upon inspection, it appeared to be comprised of a worn tunic and a pair of pants. She looked up at him with a confused frown creasing her brow.

"What are these for?"

He rolled his eyes and addressed her as though she were dense. "Because you cannot train in a dress, _Tanzûna_."

_'Train?'_

It took her a moment to put two and two together. When she did, it was impossible to stop the wide grin that spread rapidly across her features.  
Without a second thought she had stripped off the dress and donned the clothes, which of course were slightly too big, though Sky managed to roll up the bottoms of the legs and sleeves. Then she stood there, watching him move his jaw in ways that seemed as though he was trying to say something, but was having a great deal of difficulty getting it out. When he finally did, it was clear why.

"I...." He took a deep breath, appeared to steel himself, then continued gruffly, "I am going to need your assistance down these steps."  
She smirked and couldn’t resist jabbing, "You know, I'd much rather see you attempt them on your own. I'm in need of a bit of entertainment today...." He glared at her and she bit her lip to keep from laughing. "Or you could just change back, get down on your knees and do the job you are _meant_ to be here for," he gritted. She swallowed the rest of her amusement and reluctantly let him lean on her shoulder as they slowly made their way down the staircase.

Once at the bottom, he sent her straight back up again for the chair so he could sit down. He was still in a poor state. Sky was wondering how exactly he was going to be capable of training her, until he nodded pointedly at the pell across the arena. “Find a short sword and give that a whack. Drag it into the middle of the ring first if you can, so I can see you properly and assess your form.” Sky did as he asked, awkwardly manoeuvring the tall, thick, padded wooden pole out of its corner and into the centre. Then she stood there, wandering if he was going to tell her what to do or if she should just start and wait for the abuse to fly. “Well this is very interesting. I can see you have the makings of a fine warrior.” His brush with death hadn’t cured him of his penchant for snide, demeaning comments it would seem. She glared at him and he glared right back. “Hit it,” he said, slowly and clearly. Picturing the pell as him, she performed the drills learnt in the Heath Tribe and with her medieval re-enactment group at home.

_Offside, onside, offside, wrap, onside lower, offside higher, onside middle, wrap, overhead c–_

“Stop.”

She sighed and allowed the sword to rest on her shoulder, turning to look at him expectantly.

“Who taught you to hold a sword like that? If you grip it any tighter you’ll pop your own knuckles. Relax.” Sky swung the practice blade gently and tried to ease up her hold on the hilt. Kili continued, lifting his crutch around the middle and using it to demonstrate his meaning, “Your thumb and first two fingers should be the ones supporting and directing the sword through most of the strike, switching to the thumb and smallest finger at the last moment to get the full momentum of the swing and looseness in the wrist, tightening only on impact so as not to drop the weapon. The more relaxed you are, the quicker you are. As a smaller fighter, speed will be your best friend. Currently, you _might_ be able to win a duel against a tortoise. On a good day.” His facial expression conveyed serious doubt as to the potential fruitfulness of his endeavours. Sky fought down the urge to poke her tongue out at him and repeated the drill, this time trying to keep the correct fingers loosening and tightening at the correct times. It was a lot more difficult to do at speed than he’d made it sound, but she didn’t dare slow it down after his tortoise comment.

_Offside, onside, offside, wrap, onside lower, offside higher, onside middle, wrap, overhead cut, offside middle–_

“I don’t know about you, but I have never – in all my forty-six years of fighting – been lucky enough to face an opponent stupid enough to stand still whilst I hit them,” he called out over the loud clonking sounds the practice blade made on the pole. “Well, before you that is,” he added with a grin. “Your point?” Sky growled, desperately trying to focus on her technique and not give him any more ways to degrade her. “My _point_ is that your feet are glued to one spot. Move around. All too often the difference between life and death in battle comes down to how good your footwork is and how well you’ve observed the terrain.”

“Guess your footwork wasn’t all that wonderful a few weeks ago, eh?” She nodded at him and his crutch with a barely concealed smile. The hand on his good side dropped to his belt and he raised his eyebrow meaningfully. Sky clenched her jaw and returned to the pell, trying to pretend it was a real opponent advancing, retreating and sidestepping her blows whilst delivering their own. She heard him sigh loudly and shift on his seat, muttering, “We have a long way to go….”

Her next strike rang out extra loudly.

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By the time she was sent back, her entire body felt sore. Kili had eventually gotten impatient with her lack of what he deemed to be a decent level of stamina, and made her spend the rest of the training session running laps around the arena and performing push-ups, sit-ups and one particularly gruelling exercise where she had to spread her legs in a wide squat and hold her sword in front of her on outstretched palms. He was of the opinion that if she couldn’t support the weight of her own body and sword standing still, she would have no chance when it came to wearing any kind of armour and carrying the extra weight of a shield in the other hand. Sky was determined to prove him wrong about his opinions of her and her entire race, though determination had only got her so far that round. He hadn’t said anything about terminating their training based on what had clearly been a poor performance in his eyes, but the frustration at both herself and him had been building rapidly, and it was all she could do to hold it all in until she was in the safety – as laughable as that word was in this place – of her chambers.

Beatrice was there, lighting the fire and cleaning up the ashes that had made their way out of the hearth and onto the rug. Sky had slowly been gathering the courage to sit closer and closer to the thing that had caused her so much pain at Thorin’s hand, and now she could almost treat it as she had before. It was so much nicer being able to huddle next to the warm flames than it was to bundle oneself under piles of blankets alone in a bed full of only bad memories.

The older maid saw her come in and gave her polite nod, gestured to the food on the sideboard, then gathered up her equipment and made to leave.

“Wait.”

Beatrice turned and gave the younger woman a questioning look. Sky fidgeted for a moment, wondering why she had opened her mouth. The words had come out before she could stop them. She shouldn’t ask, she knew that. It was better not to ask; better to leave it alone. But she _had_ to know. She owed her once-friend that. To know how her stupid, childish actions had impacted on the kindest, bravest person she had ever met since coming to this terrible world.

“What happened to Lasl?”

The maid flashed her a pitying look before her expression became as neutral as Fili’s so often was.

“I’m sorry miss, but there is no one here by that name.”

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. There it is. I’m not really all that happy with this chapter. My muse has been pressuring me to get on with it but my heart just wasn’t in the Thorin scene, so I hope it read ok (other than Thorin being dark and horrible all around; that’s kind of his character description so, meh). Please, PLEASE let me know what you thought in a review!! Skywolf, over and out. 
> 
> Khuzdul Translation:
> 
> Tanzȗna – bug/insect; feminine singular
> 
> Much gratitude to Dwarrowscholar (not a Fanfiction pen name by the way; look them up on the general internet) who spent so much time putting together an actual English-Khuzdul DICTIONARY, which is what I used here.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. I’m back. I am sorry it took so long. I went through depression last year and it took me a while to get back on track. I am going to fix this story up a bit eventually to improve it as well. For now, I’m going to try to keep writing and get it out there. Kili-muse says I’m a control freak and I need to learn to relax and trust him if I’m ever going to get better. That’s going to take time. I hope that when I do, I can come back later on and we (my Muse and me) can work to fix this story up a bit to make it better again.  
> Warning: This chapter is rather horrific at the end. Discretion is advised if you are a sensitive reader. Technically, Thorin should be his own warning by now, but it’s still up to you as to whether or not you want to read. Thank you all for supporting me so far.

TRIGGER WARNING APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER – MENTIONS OF RAPE; MENTIONS OF BEING BURIED ALIVE; MENTIONS OF TORTURE AND VIOLENCE; CHILD ABUSE; PEOPLE BEING MADE TO LICK THINGS OFF THE FLOOR; MENTIONS OF VOMIT; GRAPHIC BRUTAL MURDER

Time passed, days and weeks blurring together in Sky’s mind. The snows began to melt. She did her best to behave as expected of her, avoiding Beatrice like the plague and focusing only on pleasing Thorin. However, much to her relief, she saw almost nothing of the King for about a month. Her door was unlocked eventually and she was allowed to wander once more, though she rarely strayed further than the Royal Apartments. Almost every night now she would wake with sweat-stained sheets, unable to remember exactly what the nightmares were about, though she could take a good guess. The parts she always recalled involved _his_ dark blue eyes and pain and screaming and blood. So much blood…

  
She trained with Kili every few days, after he agreed to her insistence that a foolproof cover up drill be devised in the event the younger prince had an unexpected visit from his uncle. When it came to the actual lessons, it didn’t seem like she was improving, if Kili’s continuous snark and overly-exaggerated resigned attitude were anything to go by. Yet not once so far had he made any mention of giving up. Sky decided to take that as a good sign. He wasn’t exactly one to admit to having made an erroneous judgment. The thought that it was probably his way of dealing with her proving him wrong about her training ability kept her persevering.

The tedious time in between swordsmanship lessons and sexual sessions did eventually become unbearable, and ennui won out over her fear of running into Avaris and Zaarm again. She visited the library every day, spending hours poring over the Westron books she’d left on the table. Oddly enough, they hadn’t been touched, though she wasn’t complaining.

Through one of them, Sky discovered that much of what she knew of Middle Earth history had changed during the battle of the Last Alliance. Sauron had defeated the armies of Elves and Men, and the dark lord had returned to his kingdom in Mordor once victorious, simply allowing his army of evil creatures to run amok wherever they pleased throughout the land. The dwarves, fresh and at their full might, managed to drive Sauron’s loose forces clear of their own lands and into Mirkwood and the Misty Mountain range to the West. Split and spread out in smaller packs as they were, the orcs still posed a challenge, but were easier to get rid of once leaderless and with no real purpose. _‘Until recently, evidently,’_ Sky thought, remembering the orc army which had attacked the Mountain in what seemed like a lifetime ago now. The ring of power received no mention, nor did Smaug. The dragon had simply never turned up, though according to Balin, Thror had still suffered from gold sickness.

Sky flicked through the pages quicker, no longer reading, just looking for a part on the beginning of the hundred year war and dwarven occupation of Rhovanion. She noticed the tip of something peaking out between pages and opened the section to see what it was. And found what she had been looking for. Oddly enough, the chapter had been bookmarked with a feather, white as the melting snow on her balcony.

The chapter spoke of the treaty between the Men of Dale and the dwarves of Erebor being torn asunder, just as Balin had told her. But it explained the entire beginning in more gruesome, sobering detail than her comportment teacher had divulged. The tome was relatively new compared to the other books on her pile, probably only around fifty years old. She’d collected enough antique books over time in her own world to make a relatively accurate estimate of the age.

According to the author – whose name had strangely not been credited anywhere in the book – the first cause of unrest had been the sexual assault of a disguised dwarrowdam, on her way back to the Mountain after trading in the markets of Dale. Her attacker was of a rich family and a known criminal and serial rapist, who had recently been released due to what his judge had deemed ‘insufficient evidence.’ He had spied the dwarrowdam, who would have appeared to be a lone dwarf, on the road. Discovering otherwise had not swayed his decision; perhaps even reinforced it. He’d ambushed her, knocked her unconscious and proceeded to violate her. The victim’s family and indeed the entire Mountain were outraged when they learned of it; she had taken the matter straight to the rulers of Erebor. King Thror and his council judged the Man guilty, and sent out parties to arrest him with the intention of condemning him to death in accordance with their laws. The offender returned to Dale, insisted he was not guilty and demanded protection, which he received. The dwarves of Erebor were incensed by this, though the council continued to attempt to resolve the problem diplomatically.

The final straw however, had come a few months later, when a mining operation belonging to Dale and worked by both Men and a small number of dwarves became the scene of a tragic accident. The Men had failed to properly shore up tunnels and neglected other important safety procedures, which the dwarves working with them had tried several times to point out to the foreman, though no changes were made. The dwarves – all of a lower class – continued to work there despite the dangers, as most had families to feed. Inevitably, the mine had collapsed, killing all inside. In an attempt to avoid further conflict, the leaders of Dale tried to cover up the nature of the incident by giving the excuse that deadly vapours seeping through the cracks in the area prevented safe investigation. But this meant the denial of the dwarves’ right to recover the bodies. This was beyond belief for the grieving families and other dwarvish inhabitants of the Mountain. A small party tried to sneak in anyway, but were stopped by the Men put on guard at the site. An argument ensued and the Khazad warriors resorted to violence, resulting in the deaths of several Men. A few escaped and collected reinforcements. The dwarves, who had only just begun digging for their kin, had no chance. The already enraged Men slew all but one – whom they took prisoner – though they lost more of their own in the process. The anonymous author had made a footnote saying that the recount of the fight over the gravesite had been taken from the surviving dwarf, who was rescued not long after.

Thror took advantage of the rage spreading through his people, and lead his army against Dale. The Lord of the Iron Hills had joined him, and together they crushed the opposing army and took the City by force. Esgaroth fell soon after.

The author spoke of how Thorin had taken over from his grandfather during a rash of defeats resulting from Thror’s mental decline. The young prince had incited new fervour from the Khazad, leading campaign after campaign with commendable success– though he often utilised levels of extreme violence looked upon with concern by those in authority under him. The writer of the volume most likely shared their thoughts, considering he or she – or they – had the courage to include it in the first place, though had clearly taken care to present it as purely the observations and opinions of the commanding officers. All of whom had coincidentally ‘passed away’ or died tragic deaths in what seemed to be suspicious circumstances. Not that the author had the courage to write that directly, but it was implied.

She only managed to get through two of the late officers’ recorded statements before she had to close the book and choose another to read for a while. Perhaps once upon a time she could have read about such acts and remained detached from them as though they were fiction, but being the prisoner of the dwarf who had committed the gruesome deeds made them all too real. And made her think of Lasl. And that was one thing she would _not_ do. _Must_ not do.

Fili was right. Her self-centeredness and rash decisions had caused so much suffering. What Thorin had done to her that day in his chambers seemed like nothing compared to what could have and probably _had_ been meted out to Lasl. Fili wouldn’t have escaped his uncle’s retribution either. And what of Leadawn and Pitha? Had they suffered because of her? Part of her knew exactly the kind of cruel psychological game the dwarf king was playing. Even if he hadn’t harmed anyone, the idea that he might have and would again was easily enough to keep her in line. Her own terror of him did the rest.

Yet despite this, she still found the gall to practice swordsmanship right under his nose with his younger nephew. True, they had developed a plan for hiding their activities quickly if needed, but there was always a risk. She could only hope Kili knew his uncle well enough to avoid discovery. And why exactly was she spending so much time with her second worst enemy in the first place? Realistically it would probably take years for the training to pay off in a way that was useful to her, and she wouldn’t be able to try anything without fear of others being on the receiving end of the repercussions. Still, it was better than doing nothing, and her hatred of the prince certainly did help fuel the fire in her to improve. Sky had surprised herself in looking forward to the day Kili could step into the ring with her. She really needed to whoop his ass, craved it almost as much as she did freedom. Kili apparently sensed it. A week ago, he had told her he was eagerly anticipating introducing her to ‘a whole new world of sensation’ once he was fully healed. He’d winked suggestively at the end, and she had given in to the overwhelming urge to flip him the bird, despite the sheer pointlessness of the action.

Too many thoughts whirling around and around and making little to no real sense. Or too frightening to spend much time straightening out. Sky dug the heels of her palms into her temples and rubbed them firmly with a groan.

“Miss Sky?” A tentative voice called. Sky looked up to see Ori standing nearby. ‘Miss’ was the way her maid and most other slaves addressed her. This night was getting stranger and stranger by the minute. “Master Ori?” She pushed her chair back and moved to kneel, though not as deeply as was required for the higher ranking dwarves. “Oh no, d-do not bother with all that, please,” he sputtered, clearing his throat and nervously straightening the books in his arms. “I just came to tell you that I am closing the library for the night. O-or rather, early morning.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t realise it was that late. I hope I haven’t kept you, sir.”

“N-no, no. I was very busy all night. I-I just did not want to, well… lock you in.”

Some cynical part of her found his comment extremely amusing and she had to fight hard to keep from smirking.

“Thank you for remembering me, sir. I shall leave immediately.”

“G-good night, Sky.”

“Goodnight, sir.”

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

The universe was conspiring against her, it seemed.

Despite her vow to behave exactly as expected and obey all the oppressive rules and regulations forced upon her, despite her best efforts to remain unobtrusive and under Thorin and every other dwarf’s radar, of course it would so happen that the moment she started taking great pains to avoid seeking out trouble, it sought _her_ out.

Sky was heading sleepily back to her chambers from the library when an angry voice and two pairs of running feet, one set louder than the other, floated down the hallway to her ears. She tried to ignore it, telling herself very firmly that it was absolutely none of her business, and turned to look anyway. A small figure rounded a nearby corner and dashed straight for her. She had only a moment to recognise with shock that it was Pitha, the little Heath Tribe girl enslaved alongside Leadawn, before the child had her arms tightly about Sky’s waist and was sobbing into her dress. She embraced Pitha automatically, mumbling reassurances to her whilst attempting to sort through her confused thoughts. What was she doing in the upper levels? And where was Leadawn? Fili had suggested to Thorin they be taken to the kitchen, so she had simply assumed they were there.

Sky had no time to question Pitha about it however, as Zaarm came into view, panting and cursing loudly in Khuzdul– at least, Sky assumed they were curses. Pitha hid behind Sky, her small chubby hands clinging to the soft folds at the back of the older girl’s dress. Zaarm stalked up to her, face almost as red as her hair with exertion and rage. Sky bowed quickly, feeling Pitha follow her down in an attempt to maintain her hiding place. Poor thing.

“What is the meaning of this?! Get out from behind there at once, you little _imzêrtunz_!”

Sky felt herself freeze in fear as Zaarm’s hand shot out toward her, only to feel relief as it turned out the dwarrowdam had grabbed Pitha, not her. Then a rush of shame flooded over her. Was she doomed to fail at defending those under her protection at every turn? Pitha was screaming, crying and struggling against the angry dwarf woman, who dragged her with little effort behind her as she made to go back the way they had come. Sky had to do something. Anything. But her Shadow would be watching. She might be punished.

But poor Pitha…

Was this the kind of thing that went through Fili’s head every time Sky was in danger and he risked Thorin’s wrath himself by attempting to shield her? Were these the kinds of choices he had to make? Yet Fili was Thorin’s heir. There were actions he could take and words he could use that she could not. What if she only made it worse? For both herself _and_ Pitha.  
Words he could use….

Fili was a sweet-talker. A silver tongue. A master manipulator. When something didn’t go how he wanted, he could talk others into doing things his way by highlighting the parts of his plan that benefited them, and a number of other sneaky psychological tactics in order to achieve his own goals. She wouldn’t be surprised if he even made them think it was _their_ idea. Sky had seen him do this several times since she met him, one of them being when he’d convinced Thorin to take Leadawn and Pitha with them so she could know they were safe, rather than leave them to the terrible conditions she had witnessed in Dale. At first she had been angry and resentful. Then she’d realised that, whilst it was indeed to Thorin’s advantage in keeping her more firmly entrapped, it was also the best thing Fili could have done for them _and_ her. He had been helping her long before he rescued her in the library.

Sky couldn’t take the same route Fili would, but she might be able to do something similar and just adapt it to her station. In all likelihood she’d just end up being punished herself, but she owed it to both Pitha and Fili to try. “My lady, please wait.” Zaarm whirled to face the kneeling woman angrily. “How dare you? I never gave you permission to speak! If I could, I would take you to hand myself! As it is, I have a good mind to make a complaint against you to our esteemed ruler!”

“Oh no, my lady please! I mean no offence! I simply wanted to offer you my services, as someone with experience in the management of children of my race.”

Zaarm scoffed loudly, “Are you implying I cannot _manage_ my own slaves? Who do you think you are?” _‘Someone who would pour glue into your ridiculous red mop the first chance she got whilst you slept, if she were the only one going to suffer for it.’_ Instead she replied, “Of course not, my lady. You seem exceptionally capable and I’m certain you have all of your slaves well in hand. I’m simply offering to assist. It is late, and I wouldn’t want my lady losing any of her valuable sleep over punishing this girl when _I_ could do it _for_ her.” The dwarrowdam was calming down now, actually listening and clearly mulling over what Sky had been saying. Sky took her chance to play her last card, praying it would be enough. “I beg of you to tell me what this dratted young urchin has done to displease you so. Perhaps my lady would honour me by allowing me to take care of the situation myself?”

Zaarm fussily straightened out her dress and felt her hair briefly as though to check it was still in its flamboyant style. Sky couldn’t believe the fiery dam might actually sleep in it. The Khazad were a strange people. “Well…. I suppose you could. I _do_ have so many places to be and important things to do tomorrow that you cannot even _begin_ to comprehend, what with your simple little life and mind. Very well. Get on with it then. Just make sure it is back to do its duties and clean up the frightful mess it made before I rise again.”

With that, she flounced back down the hall. Sky was struggling not to laugh at the frankly ludicrous spectacle Zaarm was making all the way until she passed out of view. Sky turned and embraced Pitha tightly, the little girl hugging her back just as fiercely. She was crying, the poor dear. Sky made soothing sounds and rubbed the child’s shoulders in an effort to calm her. “I-I-I d-didn’t m-m-mean to,” Pitha sobbed, dashing a hand over her eyes and sniffling. “She p-placed it t-too close t-to the edge, a-and it f-fell off when I b-b-bumped it.” Another wave of tears. “It’s ok,” Sky murmured, “I’m not really going to punish you. I just needed to get rid of her and dwarves love it when you butter them up. It’s ok. Don’t worry. It’s ok.” Slowly but surely, the weeping ebbed, until Pitha pulled away and wiped her nose on her sleeve with a little sniff.

“Now, can you tell me what happened, sweetie?”

Pitha recounted the sorry tale of a fancy vase being broken because Zaarm had carelessly placed it in a precarious position, then blamed Pitha entirely for the accident. The dam had chased the poor child around with a shard of the broken vessel until Pitha managed to flee Zaarm’s chambers. She had received quite a fright and was afraid to return. Sky shook her head at Zaarm’s cruelty, trying to think of some way to keep anything like it from happening again. Honestly there was very little either of them could do. Finally she said, “Look. You’ll just have to be more careful from now on. Stay away from furniture unless you’ve been ordered to clean it, and pick up all the pieces before she wakes up. Be doubly obedient and bow and scrape a lot more the whole day and she’ll probably have forgotten it all by lunchtime. And try to act like your bottom is very sore, as though I gave you a sound hiding, ok?” Pitha giggled and nodded. Tricking Zaarm was clearly going to be very satisfying for her. Sky couldn’t blame her. She would certainly be watching out for Pitha whenever she could, now that she knew the little girl was actually within reach on the very same level as her. Leadawn was in the kitchens, as Sky had originally thought. Pitha had been turned away by the staff, who complained she was too small and would only get under their feet. So she had been sent up to serve Zaarm as the nobledam’s chambermaid, though she shared her duties with an older servant who took care of the more dangerous and difficult tasks.

Pitha tried to dry her face, but Sky stopped her. “The teary streaks and puffiness will make the idea that I punished you more believable to them. It’s quite late. You’d best get back in case she is waiting for you.” She hated letting her go, but it was in both of their best interests. The little girl nodded and gave Sky another hug before hurrying back down the hall. Sky went to bed with a warm feeling in her heart that she hadn’t felt in months. It was just a small thing, but her actions had made someone else’s life a bit easier instead of worse for a change, even if it turned out to be only temporary. For once, she dreamt of Fili. He was smiling at her and laughing at something she’d said. The nightmare followed soon after, but when she woke, panting hard as usual, she remembered the dream preceding it and felt strangely comforted.

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

A few nights after, she found herself in Thorin’s chambers again, though this time they were in the washroom. And his nephews were present also. She had only seen Fili briefly a few times over the past month, and never long enough or in private enough a setting to talk to him. Not that he would have anyway it seemed. He had made a point of coldly ignoring her from the moment she walked through the door. Kili was no longer using his crutch, but still moved slowly. He winked at her. She shot him a glare before casting her eyes down again quickly. Sky herself was crouched awkwardly in one corner by the benches, waiting for a command, any command at all. Her ankles were killing her.

A girl _who_ looked to be in her teenage years scurried in, taking the Durins’ clothes as they removed them and placed them in her arms. Kili pinched her arse as she left him, and she gasped and went beet red. Thorin and Kili laughed. Fili just stood quietly with his usual resigned air. Their uncle spoke gruffly in Khuzdul and all three stepped into the hot pool. It was much larger than her own; half a dozen of hers would have fit inside it. The shelves in the walls of the room were lined with all manner of bottles, crockery pots and big, thick towels. A stick of incense had been lit, and Sky found herself relaxing involuntarily as she breathed in the soothing scent.

Still she waited, and still she was not called upon. This was the longest she had ever had to hold the position. Thorin seemed content to soak and talk to his nephews in the dwarvish tongue. Kili chatted animatedly, and his uncle burst out in loud laughter once, in response to an apparently amusing anecdote. Fili’s face only twitched slightly, though he made a visible effort to imitate a proper smile when his little brother looked his way. It lacked the warmth and beauty of the rare, genuine smiles she had seen from him. Either Thorin’s presence dampened his ability to find the story funny, or he disapproved. Or perhaps he was just being his usual withdrawn self.

Was it usual? He hid further behind his perfected mask whenever Thorin was around. Something was very wrong with their relationship, she was sure of it. Every one of their interactions was off. Fili was usually respectful and courteous and Thorin remained civil and seemingly reasonable. Even out of the public eye. But that was exactly what made it feel so wrong. There was no affection, no familial recognition. Come to think of it, she could not remember a single time she had ever heard Fili call Thorin ‘uncle.’ He almost always addressed the King as ‘Sire,’ and occasionally the other honorifics used for male monarchs, no matter where they were or who they were in the presence of.

Kili was affectionate, happy and boisterous. Thorin looked at him with fondness, and their conversation and behaviour around each other was easy going and relaxed. The youngest Durin idolized both his uncle and his brother, and continuously sought their attention and approval. Fili loved him with all his heart, that much was obvious, and a light appeared in his eyes whenever he was around Kili. The difference between the way he was with Kili and how he interacted with Thorin was painfully clear.

Was it because he disagreed with the King’s principles? He obviously did, and it was clear from that day in her chambers that they clashed over the concept of morality often. However, she thought it unlikely to be enough to drive such a wedge between them that Fili had all but openly disowned his uncle. Family was extremely important to the Khazad. It had to be far worse a betrayal than a difference of opinion, surely.

“ _Salrûna_ , come here.”

_Finally._

Sky shuffled over to where Thorin lounged against the edge of the bath. He waved his hand at the wall. “Fetch me the items in the third-row compartment, second from the left. You may walk.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

She rose and made her way gingerly around the edge to the shelves. And encountered a rather embarrassing problem. She worried at her lip as she thought what to do.

“In your own time, of course.”

His tone was dangerously sarcastic. There was nothing for it.

“Permission to speak, your Grace?”

“Granted.”

Kili cut in before she had a chance, crowing, “The poor _mim-mushz_ is too short.” Sky bit her tongue and kept her eyes resolutely on the space between her feet. She’d make him pay later, she vowed, somehow. Thorin let out an exasperated sound, then turned to face the door. “Girl!” he barked. For a confusing moment she thought he meant her, then the girl from before scurried in and prostrated herself. “Bring me the things from the usual shelf.” She whispered a “Yes, my lord,” moving quickly to where Sky stood. She was the same height as the King himself, and reached up with ease to gather the items he wanted, placing them by him with shaking hands.

“Now fetch us some wine.”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

“You. Help her,” he grunted at Sky, and she scrambled to obey. The floor was dangerously slippery in places where water kept slopping out whenever Thorin leant back, in addition to the patches created by wet people regularly dripping water throughout the bathing chamber. She was glad she had left her moccasins outside the entrance. She had to pick her way carefully to avoid falling flat on her face. Kili would just love that. In the main room, the maid was trying to pick up a pitcher and three goblets without much success. Sky proffered her hands to take something, smiling in reassurance. The maid handed her the goblets and smiled back. “What’s your name?” Sky whispered. “Esther,” came the muttered reply. That was all they had time for.

“I am waiting!”

The two hapless girls hurried back wordlessly.

They had just entered the room, heads dutifully bowed and blood racing, when disaster struck.

Almost in slow motion, Sky saw Esther’s feet lose their purchase on the slippery floor. The pitcher left the maid’s hands and shattered on the stone. Pottery shards flew everywhere, and wine began spreading itself outwards from the puddle in the wreckage. There was a deadly silence as time stood still, and both humans stared dumbly at the spilt wine as though neither could quite understand what had happened.

Sky was the first to recover, dropping into the obeisance position. She looked briefly at Fili, half-expecting him to leap to Esther’s rescue. However, he only sighed and closed his eyes, turning away like he couldn’t bear to watch what they all knew would happen next. Kili just tipped his head back, expelling breath out through his nose in annoyance. Thorin was examining the broken pitcher the way one might some odd curiosity on a market stall. Esther looked confused. Sky knew what she was thinking. Why wasn’t he flying into a rage? The poor maid was clearly new to the job, else she would know – as Sky knew – that if he _had_ gotten angry immediately, she probably wouldn’t have all that much to worry about in comparison to what was happening now. The way he was behaving currently was merely the calm before the storm. He was very angry indeed, and his calculative air confirmed Sky’s worst expectations. That slow cock of the head meant he was meticulously taking in the crime, and forming some creative and terrible kind of retribution in his warped mind. She had seen it often enough to know that Esther was in seriously deep shit.

Sky was tired of watching other people suffer and not being able to do anything about it. In an ill-considered moment of rashness, she found herself blurting, “I’m so sorry, your Majesty! It was my fault. I tripped and pushed her. Please don’t take it out on her!”

“Oh, pardon me. I completely forgot it is your place to judge who is guilty of what, and how they should be punished,” he replied with a flippant air. Sky felt her heart plummet into the pit of her stomach in dread. “Is there anything else you would like to add? No? Good. Then hold your tongue,” the dwarf King growled, water streaming down his powerful frame as he climbed out of the pool and started toward them. She heard a little gasp of fear from beside her, and saw Esther lying where she had fallen, paralysed with fright. Sky reached out and grabbed Esther’s arm, pulling the maid back with a meaningful glance at the way she herself was crouching. Esther quickly copied her, bowing her head and clutching her quaking hands to her chest.

Thorin’s large feet came into view, and Sky was reminded of the very first time she had seen him, in the war tent on the bloody battlefield he had made of the once beautiful Withered Heath. He ripped the beauty away from everything he touched, twisting and corrupting until there was nothing left but a shadow of the original thing, for him to control and use as he wished. How long before he took the last vestiges of her humanity from her? How long before she became like all his other puppets, scurrying to obey his every command for fear of some terrible consequence as a result of failure? Perhaps she already had.

“Sky, retrieve the pottery. Miss a single shard and I will grind it up and shove it down your throat.”

“Yes, your Majesty.” She went for the large bits first, grateful that it wasn’t glass which would have been sharper and harder to find in the wine. If she felt around carefully, she could locate most of the smaller pieces without cutting herself. She could hear Thorin behind her speaking to Esther. “That wine comes from my personal cellars, brewed and distilled from the finest vineyards in Dale by the best vintners in Erebor. Now I ask you, is it right that such a fine drink be wasted on the floor of my wash room? Hmm?”

“No, your Majesty,” Esther squeaked, body quaking and tears threatening to spill from her eyes. “I am so pleased you agree with me. It really should be enjoyed.” He leaned in close to the maid’s ear and murmured, “Lick it up. Every. Last. Drop.”

Then the unthinkable happened.

Esther burst into tears and _shook her head._

Sky felt sick with fear for her. “Do as he says, you idiot!” she hissed loudly, knowing they could all hear, but unable to stand by and do absolutely nothing whilst the foolish teen unwittingly courted death. Thorin, whose features had darkened immediately in response to the girl’s refusal, turned on Sky. “Ah, yes. My perfectly behaved consort,” he commented in a scathing, heavily sarcastic tone. “Perhaps you should set the example for her. Go on, show her how it is done.”

“Yes, your Grace.”

Sky swallowed in revulsion at the thought, but obeyed, leaning down and closing her eyes to reduce the number of senses involved in the disgusting procedure. As if the horrible liquid didn’t taste bad enough, she still had to contend with the psychological aspect of her tongue touching a floor which probably only received any kind of washing when dirty bathwater was splashed all over it by bathers. Hairy, sweaty, dirty bathers. Stop. She’d make herself vomit and then Thorin would almost certainly make her eat that as well. It was all she could do to keep her stomach’s contents where they belonged.

“There, you see? _That_ is how a good slave responds to all orders. Sky will be rewarded for her model behaviour. As for you…”  
Esther had no time to react as Thorin’s meaty hand flashed down without warning, grasping her by the neck and slamming her face into the stone beneath her with incredible force. Perhaps if he had been a Man, the maid would have lived, albeit with a broken nose and most likely several other fractures of her facial bones. However, the average dwarf had three times the strength of a Man, and Thorin was heavily built, even for one of the Khazad.

Sky heard the sickening crunch and squish as Esther’s skull gave way, briefly caught a glimpse of a scene that had the morbidly objective part of her mind making comparisons with memories of squashed mosquitos, and immediately turned her head to look at the space between the Durin brothers to avoid seeing any more. An expression of horror matching what she felt seemed to flicker across Kili’s features for a second, though it was gone quickly. Then he closed his eyes and swallowed tightly. Fili was steadfastly attempting to bore a hole in the other wall with his gaze, a little muscle under his jaw twitching spasmodically.

Sky could only hope Esther had died immediately.

Thorin took one of the towels laid out on the nearby bench and cleaned his hands on it. It was all Sky could do just to keep from looking back at the young girl’s remains. There was no way she could keep from throwing up if she saw that. If it had been in a movie, or even a photo in a medical textbook covering cadavers, she would have been able to remain detached. However, the proximity of the monster committing the atrocious deeds once again made it all too real. Had he done it simply because he could and thought the maid deserved it? Or did the cold blooded, brutal murder of Esther hold a double meaning?

_I can and will kill you with little effort and no remorse, if you push me too far or begin to bore me._

Sky realised she had stopped licking up the wine and quickly bent, hoping fervently that Thorin hadn’t noticed. Luckily, he ignored her and climbed back into the bath. “I’m going to need a new maid,” he stated matter-of-factly. Kili chuckled in response, but it sounded forced and half-hearted. Fili stayed silent. Thorin left the room and she could hear him talking to one of the guards outside his chambers. His voice carried even at lower volumes. Then he returned and sank back into the bath. “ _Salrȗna_ , leave that and come here,” Thorin ordered. Sky found herself wishing he’d just let her complete his previous command, revolting as it was. At least she wouldn’t have had to go near him. Wishing never got anyone anywhere however, so she edged towards him as slowly as she dared. He ordered her to pick up the various bathing implements Ester had retrieved earlier and put them on the tray, which she found on one of the lower shelves. Fili requested to be dismissed, giving the excuse he had a meeting with the council to prepare for. Thorin denied him permission, stating rather gruffly that Fili would have plenty of time for it in the morning, and that he could leave only when Thorin said he may. Kili remained silent, leaning back in the bath with eyes closed, seemingly ignoring all that was going on. For the next half hour, Sky was kept shuffling around on her knees, presenting and holding the tray of items for each dwarf to utilise at will. Her stomach performed an extra little twist when she finally got to Fili, but he only took the hair wash before waving her away, for which she was grateful. Kili spoke in their tongue to Fili, and made a ‘turn around’ gesture with his hands, then took the vial from his brother’s hand and washed his hair for him, chatting all the while.

Another servant, a young man this time, entered and helped Sky serve wine to the Durins. She met his eyes only once, over the swiftly congealing pool of blood marring the stone floor.

She could not have said which of them glanced away first.

D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D-D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am planning to finish this story. I swear. And then overhaul it to make it better once it's done because I'm a perfectionist and I want to make it better. I want to get better as a writer. I have to write what I want to see because I don't see a lot of what I like to read in fanfiction. Upside, I learn to write better. :)
> 
> Feel free to continue reviewing and giving ideas/constructive criticism whenever you have it. I need all the help and outside experience I can get. 
> 
> I got some help from a friend and finally finished the chapter I have been working on for over a year now. I suffered through several months of depression last year in which I failed a semester at Uni and then took a gap semester whilst I was working with the depression. I'm starting to recover now and I actually read a whole book recently which would have been impossible last year. (It was the annotated uncensored edition of Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture Of Dorian Gray.' I loved it. It was amazing.)  
> So I'm updating today. I hope you enjoy the chapter. Let me know what you think?
> 
>  
> 
> Khuzdul Translation:
> 
> Imzêrtunz – Pestilence  
> Mim-mushz – Mouse (small-rat)
> 
> Much gratitude to Dwarrowscholar (not a Fanfiction pen name by the way; look them up on the general internet) who spent so much time putting together an actual English-Khuzdul DICTIONARY, which is what I used here.


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